Devilry in Motion
by NinjaGogeta
Summary: Stunning, charming, intelligent; Ikawazu Yoko is a hit with the ladies. She's had more dates than she can count, and she wears the male uniform better than any boy. A lot of care has gone into her perfect playgirl persona. But after accidentally biting off more than she can chew, Yoko learns just how outclassed she is. Yuri, harem, Issei replacement, M rated just in case.
1. Chapter 1

**This is an Issei replacement OC story, with yuri. The OC joins Rias' peerage. If these things don't appeal to you, then turn back here. But, if the idea intrigues you, please read on.**

 **And to old readers of mine, I've been very preoccupied lately, with job seeking and moving to a new house. But now that I'm starting to settle in and I seem to have a good chance of getting some work soon, I'll be able to focus on writing hopefully. I quite enjoy this character, and I want to see her go the distance.**

 **Depending on how well this first chapter is received, this story might end up being what my writing focus is on for a while. If anyone is waiting on my other stories, I'm not sure when they'll be picked up again, if ever. Right now, I just want to learn to enjoy writing again, to make the most of my fresh start in a new home.**

 **Anyway, on with the chapter.**

* * *

It was a fine day at Kuoh Academy. The birds were singing, the wind was blowing, and the school perverts were trying to peak on the kendo team. Business as usual.

"Murayama's boobs are so big!"

"She's 82-70-81."

"Katase has great legs!"

"She's 78.5-65-79."

"I miraculously found this spot during PE!"

"Well, it looks like you've used up your daily dose of miracles, Matsuda."

The perverts froze. Shaking, the two turned around to see a third student standing over them.

Yoko was a seventeen-year-old girl with long, stylishly messy, black hair that reached down to the small of her back, with an equally messy fringe swept to the right of her forehead. Like the two perverts she wore the male version of Kuoh academies uniform, which did a much better job of flattering her figure than it did theirs.

"I-Ikawazu!" They gulped, leaning back against the building.

"F-Fancy s-seeing you he-here." Motohama said, pushing his glasses up his nose, hoping for the glare to hide his fearful gaze.

"S-So, Ikawazu." Matsuda wiped his brow, removing the sweat that had started to build. "A-Any chance that we can convince you to not rat us out."

"Oh? And what could you two losers possible have that could convince me?" Ikawazu Yoko asked of the damned. She flicked her hair over her shoulder, smirking down at the pair. "What could I possibly gain?"

"I-I'll tell you any girl's measurements you like!" Motohama said, wringing his hands together.

"And I'd care about that…why?" Yoko raised a brow. "A girl's sizes would only be useful if I were buying her some sexy lingerie as a gift. I'm not that charitable with the girls I date."

"I'll buy you some juice!" Matsuda tried next.

"Oh please, I stopped extorting shmucks like you for juice in middle-school. Besides, I'm not so poor that I can't buy my own juice, you know."

"E-Erm…a favour to old school chums?"

"Sure, we went to middle-school together, but I'm pretty sure we ran in different circles."

The two looked at each other, communicating in frantic silence. Realising they had nothing else to say, they threw themselves at her feet. "Please don't!"

"Hmm, not a very convincing argument." She grinned, enjoying their fear. "Well, if that's all you've got…" She snagged their collars as they tried to leg it passed her, causing the two to cry out in pain as they choked.

"Eh? What was that?"

"It came from outside!"

"Looks like I didn't need to do anything after all." Yoko said, grinning as she yanked the two up so they were at her eye level. "Thanks for the assist."

"Whose th-eh?! Y-Yoko-san?"

"Ladies." Yoko span on her feet, facing the kendo club in its entirety; the boys in her grip choked as they were yanked along with her. "I found these cretins trying to sneak a peek through a hole in your changing rooms."

"Eeek!" Several of the girls held their hands over their chests, twisting their bodies away from the two perverts.

"Fortunately, I managed to stop them before they got their filthy peepers near it." She said with a charming smile, causing some of the girls to blush. Motohama gasped something that sounded suspiciously like "Lies", but a quick shake from Yoko shut him up, via restricted windpipe.

"Thank you, Yoko-san." One of the girls, Katase said with a smile, her cheeks gaining colour. "I would have hated for those beasts," she and her club-mates threw the two boys vicious glares, "to see us like that." The rest of the girls nodded in full agreement.

"Of course. To peep on someone while they're at their most vulnerable is truly an irredeemable act." Yoko shook the perverts, choking them again. "Only when a girl wishes to show someone her charming figure should it be viewed." She dropped the boys on their asses, finally letting them get some air.

"Gak!"

"D-Damn bitch."

"You two never learn, do you." She shook her head and crossed her arms. "I understand that the lovely ladies of Kuoh's kendo club are some of the most charming and beautiful girls in town," the kendo club blushed again, half of them looking giddy at the praise, "but to peep—er, to try and peep—on them like that is disgraceful. But of course, mere words aren't enough for fools like you." She shook her head and turned back to the kendo club. "Ladies, they're yours."

The girls shook off their blushes and drew their kendo sticks, advancing on the perverts. The two cried out in pain as the girls descended, swinging their wooden swords with the wrath of women scorned.

Only one had not taken part in the righteous justice—Katase. Instead she approached Yoko. "Thank you again for stopping them, Yoko-san. The thought of those two putting their dirty gazes on me…" She shuddered, grimacing in disgust.

"But of course. I couldn't let them perv on my lovely classmates like that." Yoko lifted her hand and brushed her finger along one of Katase's pink bangs, causing the girl to flush bright red. Yoko's finger went down the bang, before breaking away to cup the girl's cheek. "I hope the mental image of their beady little eyes hasn't disturbed you too badly."

"A-Ah." Katase gulped, licking her suddenly dry lips. "N-No, I-I, erm." She moved her gaze away. "You, that is, erm." She shuffled in place as her cheeks went even redder. "H-How can I th-thank you for your help." She finally managed to say, moving her gaze back to Yoko's.

"Hmm, thank me?" Yoko repeated, stroking her cheek with a finger, feeling the warmth beneath.

"Y-Y-Yes. I-If it wasn't for you…I-I just want to…reward you or something…" She whispered. Her eyes moved away again, losing her nerve slightly.

"There's no need for that." Yoko whispered, trying to catch Katase's gaze again. Upon doing so she continued, "How about I take you on a date this Saturday, hmm?"

Katase's face practically exploded. "A d-d-d-d-date?"

"Yes, a date. Then, when the thought of those two becomes too much, you'll have a much nicer memory to think about instead." She leaned in slightly. "Allow me to treat you, Katase-chan."

Katase trembled, her face putting a fire engine to shame. Even so, she managed a shaky nod.

"Wonderful." Yoko gave Katase's face one more stroke, before breaking away. "We can discuss the details tomorrow after school, ok?"

Katase nodded again, words failing her. The sounds of wood whacking on skin finally ceased, and Yoko gave Katase a wink before walking over to the group. The girls were panting after spending all their energy on the beating. The boys lay as two quivering piles of flesh, eyes rolling in the back of their heads.

"Everything alright, ladies?"

"Y-Yes, I think we've got it all out." Murayama panted, cheeks flushed from exertion. At this, one of the other girls tilted her head, hummed, and gave what remained of Matsuda one last whack. The boy let out a feeble groan.

"Wonderful!" Yoko clapped her hands together. "Now then, how about I drag these two away somewhere, so you can all continue with your club activities in peace."

"Are you sure?" Murayama blinked. "You've done enough for us, Yoko-san. You don't need to deal with this scum any more than you have already."

"I insist. I wouldn't want them being in the vicinity disturbing you." Yoko winked, and grabbed the two boys by their collars again. They moaned. "Have fun with your club activities, ladies." She started dragging the two away.

"Bye Yoko-san!"

"Thank you again, Yoko-san!"

"…" Katase stared after Yoko. Her face was starting to cool down when Murayama clapped her on the shoulder.

"Come on, let's get back to it."

Katase flinched. "Y-Yes, right, of course." She made to follow the others, after giving one last look at Yoko.

* * *

"Well, boys, thanks once again for the assist." Yoko grinned down at the two boys, both lying in beds at the nurse's office. "Since I dragged you all the way here, I'll consider us even."

"Ugghhh."

"B…Bitch…"

"Try not to molest the nurse!" She threw over her shoulder as she closed the door.

"So, it was true."

Yoko's face twitched at the unexpected voice. She faced the speaker with a smile. "Kaichou! How wonderful to see you," her face was tight as she looked at the older girl, "What was that you just said? Something about truth?" Her smile wasn't returned; the student council president adjusted her glasses, raising a brow at the closed infirmary door.

"I heard from one of my subordinates that you were seen dragging the Perverted Duo to the infirmary. I decided to come down and see if everything was alright. Lecherous as they are, those two are still students at this academy, and it's my duty to make sure they're ok." Shitori Souna said.

"How dedicated of you. Very admirable."

"Hmm." Souna looked her square in the eyes. "If my memory is accurate, this isn't the first time you've taken those two to the infirmary. Some might think there was a connection."

"A connection?" Yoko pulled back, looking almost affronted. "The only connection here is those two bozos getting caught doing perverted acts. I just so happen to be in the area when they do, and nobody else ever seems to be concerned enough to help them."

"Ah, so you're helping them out of the kindness of your own heart." Souna's lips curled at the corners a little. "Very admirable." Her deadpan eyes belied her approving expression. "Such acts make me wonder why you turned down my invitation to join the Student Council last year. You clearly have the best interest of the students at heart."

Yoko could hear the sarcasm woven into her words. "Well, as I said back then, I want to stay focused on my studies. These first two years are very important for preparing for my third year, as you might know yourself."

"I will say, you are a dedicated student. Even with the number of girls you date, you still managed to keep your grades near the top, even making top of your class. I'm impressed you find the time."

"I always make the time for beautiful ladies." She checked her watch. "Speaking of, I need to head home. I need to finish my homework before the weekend." She flashed Souna a sweet smile. "Sorry for cutting our time together short; I can't quite spare much more of my own."

"Trust me, it's no trouble." Souna said. She gave one more glance to the infirmary door. "I wouldn't want you to jeopardise your grades, or to have your reputation as a perfect student damaged. Appearances can be one's everything after all." And with that, she left Yoko alone in the corridor. Only when the sound of her footsteps faded away did Yoko drop her smile.

"Urgh, bitch." Her face scrunched, as if smelling something foul. "'Appearances can be one's everything', she says. Tch, says the walking washboard; she's as dry as her own nether region." She said, smirking as she started walking in the opposite direction. "She's just jealous of how interesting my life is. Bet the most excitement she gets in a day is finishing her paperwork." Sniggering at the thought, Yoko made to leave the building and head home.

* * *

"I can't stand that girl." Sona said, crossing her arms and leaning against a wall. After leaving Yoko outside the infirmary, she had walked around the corner and stopped to talk to someone who had been waiting for her. "If I didn't know better I'd say she's a devil already."

"Her attitude does leave something to be desired." Rias Gremory said, having witnessed the exchange from afar. "Still, I imagine that your feelings towards her stem from her refusal to join the student council." Rias said, smirking.

"I'm glad she did. She would have used it as an excuse to flirt with me and my peerage on a daily basis." Sona said, frowning at the thought. "What I don't understand is why you're interested in recruiting someone like her."

Rias' face sobered. "True, I don't like people like her either, but if my hunch is correct she could be useful to me."

"Surprisingly cold, coming from a member of the Gremory clan." Sona said, smirking a little. "But yes, I know what you mean; it's why I sought to recruit her in the first place. Still, you must be desperate if you're considering a playgirl like Ikawazu Yoko."

"I'm not sure I have the luxury of being picky for much longer. I've been seeing _his_ familiars around lately. It's made me…uneasy for the near future."

"…I see." Sona said, her expression neutral.

"Besides, you know what they say: fight fire with fire."

* * *

"Thanks for the drink, Matsuda." Yoko said, smirking as she fed coins into a vending machine. As she was walking home, Yoko had spotted a vending machine and decided to get a drink. 'Hey, he did offer after all,' she snickered. Deciding on an apple flavoured Ramune she pushed the appropriate button. After a few seconds without the clunk of a bottle, she scowled. "Come on, come on." She pushed the button again. Nothing. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me." She said, whacking the vending machine with the palm of her hand, to no avail. "Piece of crap."

"Excuse me?"

"What?!" Yoko turned to face the person behind her. "Wait your damn tu-!" She almost choked on her tongue when she saw that standing behind her was an incredibly attractive woman. Woman being the key term here—there was no way anyone could call her a girl. Not only did she sport a killer figure, but her face had a mature, seductive air about it. Said face was framed by long black hair, with hooded purple eyes just below her fringe. "-rn…hi?" Yoko squeaked, and her face flushed at her sudden ineloquence.

"Hello." The woman said. Even her smile was seductive, Yoko noted. Realising she was focusing too much on plump lips, she forced her eyes downwards. She flung her gaze back to the woman's eyes after catching an eyeful of cleavage. "Yes, my eyes are up here."

Yoko's flush deepened. "A-Ah, yeah, o-of course, sorry." She swallowed, her mouth having suddenly gone dry. "D-Do you want a drink? I-I mean, obviously, d-duh. Why else would you be at a vending machine?" _'For fucks sake, Yoko, shut up!'_ The woman laughed, causing Yoko to look at her lips again.

"Why indeed?" She licked her lips, and Yoko had to hold in a whimper.

'Get a grip! You're acting like a total mark!' Shaking her head and wetting her own lips, Yoko tried speaking. "R-Right, well, I'm afraid this machine might be broken. So…yeah…" 'Damn it, get back some control!' She put on her usual charming smile—though it felt lacking compared to the natural smirk on the woman's face—and said, "B-But if you'd like a drink, we could always go to a nearby café."

Her smile fell when the woman started laughing. It was a soft, yet deep laugh that made Yoko feel like a fool. Her face went yet another shade darker as the woman brought her hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles.

"Are you trying to ask me out?" Her eyes curved behind her hand. "How cute."

Yoko's gut twisted. That wasn't the usual response. Nothing like the reaction she got from Katase earlier, or any reaction she'd gotten before. Even when she'd been rejected—a rare occurrence she would vehemently deny happening on any other day—she'd never been laughed at. She swallowed what felt like a rock in her throat. "N-Never mind then. Forget I said anything. I-I'll just get my drink and leave" She turned to the vending machine and whacked it again. "Come on, you giant trash can." She hissed, trying to ignore the molten shame in her face.

"Why would I want to do that?" A slim hand came into her vision, and she flinched as it touched her cheek. The woman guided Yoko's head back to her, her face closing in on Yoko's own. "After all, I never said no."

"I, wha, you, huh?" Yoko trembled as piercing violet eyes stared into her own. Yoko moved her gaze back again to the woman's lips, then away to her cleavage, before settling on her nose. Her face was close enough now so that all Yoko could see was that stunning purple gaze.

"You're shy. How cute. Cute enough to make me accept your proposal." The woman said, slowly stroking Yoko's cheek. Yoko gulped as her skin tingled from the motion. Then she realised what the woman said.

"S-So, that's a yes?"

"Sure." She leant in and for a moment Yoko thought she was going to kiss her. But instead the woman moved her lips by Yoko's ear and whispered, "How about this Sunday? I'm free then."

Yoko shivered at the feel of hot breath on her earlobe. It made her knees go weak. "O-Ok, sounds g-good."

The woman chuckled and pulled away, to both Yoko's relief and disappointment. "Wonderful." Yoko's eyes almost popped out when the woman reached into her cleavage and pulled out a phone. "Shall we exchange numbers?" Yoko almost dropped her phone in her haste to take it out. They swapped phones, and after a few fumbled attempts Yoko put her number in. Taking her phone back, the woman checked it. "Yoko-chan, hmm?" She reached out and pushed a strand of hair behind Yoko's ear with a seductive smile. "See you on Sunday." And with a salacious wink she departed, hair brushing past Yoko's nose as she left.

Yoko collapsed against the vending machine with a hard slam. Her knees almost gave in, but she had just enough frame of mind to stay upright. The sound of a bottle finally falling in the machine snapped her out of her trance. Taking a deep breath, she released it in a shaky sigh. "Wh-What just happened?" Her throat was like a desert. She grabbed the drink and downed half of it in two gulps. Breathing heavily, she stared in the direction the woman left in.

Checking her phone, it didn't take long to find the new number, considering she had very few saved contacts. "Amano Yuma." She murmured, biting her lip. "Who the hell was she?" She shuddered as those deep violet eyes flashed through her mind. "W-Was I just seduced?" Her eyes widened as what happened sunk in. She glanced around, frantic, trying to see if anyone had seen what transpired. She sighed in relief when she saw no one. "If anyone saw me acting like one of the girls _I_ seduce, I'd never live it down!

"Still though…am I fucking great or what." She grinned, looking at the number in her phone. "Even older women want me! If that old hag could see me now…" She shook her head, hair flinging around and landing on her face. She brushed it away with a huff. "Nope, not going to think about that bitch." She downed the rest of her drink and threw it in a nearby bin. "Better hurry home and do my homework. I'm going to have a busy weekend so I better get it all out of the way."

As she left, she failed to notice the pair of golden eyes that had been watching her since she let school.

* * *

Yoko took her studies very seriously. It was after all a great way to impress people, especially girls. Her charming persona and unrivalled confidence also helped in that regard. Her intelligence wasn't _the_ most important part of her success with girls, if she was to be honest with herself, but her ego refused to let her fall behind in any way, so she studied.

After triple checking her work (then once more, to be sure) she put her homework to the side and started planning for her dates with Katase and Yuma. Hearing the door opening downstairs, she decided to head down for phase one.

Reaching the living room, Yoko saw her father collapse into his arm chair. Seeing his exhausted expression almost made her pause. "Otou-san, welcome home."

Ikawazu Tamaki sighed through his nose, lolling his head on his chairs comfy headrest to look at his daughter. "I suppose you want your allowance?"

Yoko paused, blinking. "Huh?" She said, very intelligently.

Her father chuckled. It wasn't cheerful. "I feel like the only time you talk to me these days is to ask me for money."

Yoko said nothing. She couldn't exactly refute his words.

Her father sighed again, but reached into his wallet and pulled out several notes. After handing them over, he picked up the TV remote and tuned into his evening programme.

Yoko huffed and turned around, shoving the money into her pocket. "Don't stay up too late. Leftovers are in the fridge." Her piece said, she turned and went to the stairs.

"You're welcome." Tamaki said, once she was halfway up. He turned up the volume to try and drown out his own thoughts.

Returning to her room, she threw herself into her desk chair. After spending a few moments staring at the wall in silent frustration, she took out her phone and made a call. "It's me. Yeah, got two more, Saturday and Sunday. Yeah, I know, I'm good. Listen, here's how it'll go down."

Phase two, underway.

* * *

Friday passed by with little deviation from the norm. Yoko was attentive in class (the teacher had praised her flawless essay from the week before), she outswam peers in P.E. (twice), and she caught Matsuda and Motohama in a compromising position (thankfully their trousers were _on_ , unlike last Friday). Each of these common occurrences were helpful in further shaping her stellar reputation among the female population of Kuoh. She was easily as popular as the Prince of Kuoh, Kiba Yuuto and the Mascot of Kuoh, Toujou Koneko. She even had her own fan-given title: The Flower of Kuoh.

Bit on the nose, but at least it wasn't Lily.

However, to her chagrin her popularity couldn't touch the top four most popular girls in school. How Shinra Tsubaki could be below Shitori Souna was beyond Yoko; at least Shinra had a rack. It might have been Shitori's position of power, but Yoko liked authority as much as she liked men. After them was Himejima Akeno and Rias Gremory, and Yoko didn't much like those two either.

As much as she hated Souna, at least the student council President interacted with other people. Every day, the two Great Onee-samas of Kuoh would glide in through the gates with their photogenic smiles and condescending eyes, soaking in the adulation from their supposed peers. Yet Yoko never once saw them around the academy. Once classes were over the two seemingly vanished to wherever the hell the Occult Research club's clubroom was. She was sure that they were laughing at how idiotic people got over them in their den, probably while drinking tea or something. Especially Himejima; there was something off about her.

Unfortunate as it was, she couldn't top their popularity due to one vital factor; the male population of Kuoh Academy. Turns out, when guys can't get in a girl's panties, they lose a lot of interest. She was even more unattainable than Gremory or Himejima, but not in a hot way. It didn't help that she no doubt emasculated them constantly. She looked better in the boy's uniform than any of them, she was positive, and she'd certainly dated more girls than any of them could dream.

Most would be satisfied being the one of the top 5 most popular girls in school. But for Ikawazu Yoko, anything other than perfection wasn't good enough.

At the end of another day at Kuoh Academy, Yoko stretched her limbs above her head with a yawn. Being perfect was tiring work, but the payoffs were worth it. Speaking of, Yoko eyed Katase from across the room. The girl had been sending bashful glances at her all day, meaning Yoko had to maintain her persona constantly, on the off chance she be caught looking bored. A quick glance around the room showed that most of the class had left.

Yoko stood up, and she smiled when she saw Katase stiffen. Her friend, Murayama, followed Katase's gaze. As she approached, she saw Katase get redder and redder. Murayama herself looked a little red, but also, to Yoko's intrigue, a little miffed. ' _That might be useful for later_.' Stopping next to Katase's desk, Yoko gave the girl her most charming smile. "Good afternoon, Katase-chan."

Katase blushed brighter at the smile, returning the greeting as Murayama's face morphed into a small glare. Katase turned to her friend—whose expression turned more neutral—and gave her an almost imploring look.

Murayama's shoulders slumped a little, but she nodded and stood up. Giving Yoko a quick, narrow eyed look, she looked back to Katase and said, "See you at practice." After Katase repeated the words back, Murayama made for the exit.

"Look out for those perverts, Murayama-san!" Yoko called after her, the only response being Murayama's increased pace. Once the girl was out of sight, Yoko sat down on the edge of Katase's desk. "So, Katase-chan, are we still on for tomorrow?"

"Yes, of course!" Katase said, nodding her head several times in quick succession.

"Great, then how about we meet at the large fountain in town—you know the one?" She waited until Katase nodded again. "Perfect. Is two o'clock fine with you?" Another nod. "Great, I'm looking forward to it." Yoko winked and pushed herself off the desk. "I don't want to keep you from practice for too long, so I'll head off." She walked to the door and turned around to wave. "See you tomorrow." After getting a wave back, Yoko left the classroom.

As she walked down the corridor, Yoko pulled out her pone. Opening her contacts list, she scrolled selected the top number: Amano Yuma. She typed a quick message, but before she could hit send her phone buzzed. Coming to a stop, Yoko blinked at the phone. Checking her messages, her eyes widened when she saw that the woman herself had sent a message.

 **#Hey, cutie, let's meet up at the fountain in town at 2'oclock Sunday. See you then** **#**

"…Huh." She stared at the screen stunned by the coincidence; she was just about to ask if Yuma wanted to meet at 2 o'clock at the fountain on Sunday. A few seconds later she shrugged, texted back an affirmative, and pocketed her phone. As she continued walking, a grin pulled at her lips.

Phase three, complete.

* * *

 **So, there's chapter one. Please, tell me what you think and if you liked it and want to see more, either follow the story, or myself, or perhaps even favourite it, if you like. Either way, I'd be honoured greatly and any and all feedback is appreciated.**

 **Laters!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Sorry for the wait. I would have had this done sooner, but I'm still helping unpack everything after moving, not to mention I burnt my fingertips the other day, which put me off writing for the rest of the day.**

 **I'm super glad to see that people are interested in this story, and in Yoko herself. My goal was to make a purposefully unlikeable protagonist, as opposed to the accidentally unlikeable protagonist that is Issei. After this chapter, I'd like to think I've succeeded even further in that regard.**

 **So please, enjoy chapter two of Devilry in Motion.**

* * *

Katase adjusted her skirt as she glanced around, biting the inside of her lip. She wondered if it was too short; she only had her own opinion to fall on for choosing her outfit. For some reason, her best friend hadn't been available to help pick out her clothes for her date. Murayama had blamed it on a build-up of homework, but Katase could have sworn that the two had already done most of the week's homework together.

She looked down at her neckline and tugged on the V of her shirt. She knew that she had some of the largest breasts in her year—thanks to the ravings of that bastard Motohama—but she rarely ever showed them off. Her shirt was low enough to reveal a generous amount of cleavage, but in a tasteful way, she had thought when she tried it on. She wasn't sure what Yoko's preferences were when it came to breast size, but remembering what Yoko said about how, _"Only when a girl wishes to show someone her charming figure should it be viewed"_ , she decided that she very much wanted to give her date a glimpse.

Katase checked the watch on the inside of her wrist, the digital face showing it to be quarter to two. She had arrived half an hour early, not wanting to make a bad impression on one of the most popular girls in school. If she played her cards right, she could be the first of the many girls Yoko dated that she went steady with. Katase's face flushed at the thought.

Ikawazu Yoko was well known at Kuoh for dating many girls, at least one a week. It was a testament to how charming and kind Yoko was that none of the girls had a bad thing to say about her. How she managed it was one of Kuoh Academies Seven Great Mysteries (other mysteries included the location of the Occult Research Club and why the Perverted Duo hadn't been expelled). All the girls she dated had been very tight-lipped about it, but none of them seemed to hold their incredibly short relationships against Yoko. The mystery only added to the Flower of Kuoh's allure.

An allure that Katase had never expected to pull her in. Before Kuoh Academy, Katase had never even considered girls as romantic partners. Sure, she and Murayama had practiced kissing, but that was just the curiosity of two childhood friends. Two young girls who wanted to see what it was like with someone they knew and trusted. It had been in the name of fun and intrigue, certainly nothing romantic or sexual.

But after entering the academy, Katase had been bombarded by incredibly attractive girls whose appearances were almost unnatural in their beauty. The sight of Rias Gremory and Himejima Akeno walking through the school gates together on her first day was an image that had ingrained itself in her mind. She admired their beauty, their grace, their sheer magnetism. The two were larger than life, unapproachable paragons of femininity.

Then there was Shitori Souna and Shinra Tsubaki. Both were undeniably gorgeous like the Onee-samas, but their own charms were uniquely theirs. Shinra was the epitome of cool beauty, and Shitori was not only graceful and intelligent but also held a position of power that she had more than earned. More than a few students have had salacious fantasies about the Kaichou asserting her authority over them, and not by giving them detention.

And of course, in her own year was Ikawazu Yoko. Unlike the previous four, Yoko wasn't as unapproachable. She held an affable air about her that seemed to draw people in, always making time for her peers. She wasn't in any clubs, but she spent the time otherwise spent in one patrolling the academy to catch the Perverted Duo committing their twisted debaucheries. She always got good grades, did amazing in P.E., and she never lauded any of it over anyone. Sure, the boys didn't like her much, but most of the female population had long since given up on the other gender, aside from Kiba Yuuto of course.

Another thing that made Yoko so admired was how unapologetic she was about her sexuality. Her self-confidence was unshakeable, and any jeers on the matter rolled off her like water on a duck's back. She made no apologies for who she was. Ikawazu Yoko came across as a strong woman who knew where she was in life, and to the other students she was a role model. She had given many lesbians the courage to stand by who they are; and in a academy that had been all-girls until over a year ago, there were plenty knocking about . To a bunch of teenagers who constantly struggled with existential angst, Yoko was an inspiration.

Katase checked her watch again; five to two. She swallowed, trying to contain her excitement. She was unsure about what would happen on their date, but she couldn't wait. It was the first time exploring the Sapphic feelings that had started to take shape since she began High School, and who better to guide her through them than Ikawazu Yoko.

"Hey there babe, what's a cute girl like you doing alone on a Saturday?"

Katase jumped, a voice snapping her out of her daydreaming. Looking up from her watch, she paled a little when she saw several teenage boys approaching her. Despite being in casual clothes, the group's look just screamed high-school delinquent gang. One actually had a ridiculous, oversized pompadour. Another had a nose piercing. One was even carrying a bokken over his shoulder. Katase hadn't seen delinquents since middle-school: Shitori-kaichou had put a stop to such behaviours before Katase even entered high-school. Still, she never recalled them looking quite so…obvious.

Despite their goofy looks, the fact that they outnumbered her and one was armed put her at a serious disadvantage. Perhaps if she could take the bokken she could fight them off, but life wasn't like anime. She couldn't just wrestle one of their weapons away and not have one of the others attack her while she was distracted; people didn't come at you one at a time in real life fights.

All of this ran through her mind as the group surrounded her. The leader apparent, Mister Pompadour said, leering at her. "Why not come with us, if you're free?" His eyes raked down her body, his gaze leaving a burning trail of lechery on her skin. He took a step forward, bringing him within slapping range.

"Get lost." Katase said with a glare, her palm stinging in the air. Despite the overwhelming odds against her, she wouldn't let them do as they pleased. If she was lucky, she could cause enough of a commotion that someone would hear and come running. She could take a few hits, even without any kendo armour.

Pompadour's brow twitched, but his eyes were taken aback. He quickly got over it and grabbed her wrist. "You're gonna pay for that, bitch."

It struck Katase in that moment that she might not have handled the situation optimally. Now she was restrained as well as surrounded. "Let go!" She shrieked, trying to yank her hand away. Gone was the confidant kendo practitioner, and in her place a normal Highschool girl being assaulted by a group of shady men. The group surrounding her weren't like the Perverted Duo, and a second realisation struck her; those two _weren't_ the scummiest human beings she'd ever met. She, in that moment, empathised with the two. Surrounded and outmatched by those who wish you serious harm, a vague part of her mind almost felt bad for the beating they suffered the other day. The bile in her throat might have been from the situation she was in, but the sudden sense of camaraderie was just as likely.

At least those two had earned what they got. The unfairness of it all made her eyes water.

"Hey boss, can I have her after you're do-OOF!" One of the goons in the back collapsed to the ground, pupils rolled to the back of his skull.

"What the hell?" Bokken Boy yelped, he and the rest spinning around to see what happened. As he finished his turn, Bokken Boy received a hard punch to the stomach. The bokken that he started to raise above his head dropped from his hand. It was caught before it could hit the floor, but the same couldn't be said for its owner, who fell to his knees, then flopped uselessly on his side.

"What the shit?!" Pompadour let go of Katase, who brought her hand close to her body and backed away. She was too awed by what she saw to pay attention to her arms condition.

"What's this? Six guys ganging up on a single, defenceless girl? For shame."

Katase, finally finding her voice, let out a joyous, "Yoko-san!" Her eyes watered further, a single relieved tear sliding down her cheek.

"You!" Pompadour growled, clenching his fists.

"Me," Yoko said, slapping the edge of the bokken into her palm. She was dressed in a pair of slim, black jeans and a white button-down shirt, with the top two buttons undone, under a casual men's blazer jacket. Perched on the tip of her nose was a pair of aviator sunglasses, low enough to reveal her condescending gaze as it dragged over the motley crew before her. Giving them absolutely zero interest, she looked to Katase, her gaze turning much warmer. "Katase-chan, I apologise for being late. Are you alright? I would feel awful if my tardiness resulted in you being injured."

Katase wiped her cheek with her hand, which reminded her of the grip that had been on it not long ago. Looking at her wrist, she was relieved to see that it had barely even gone red. "I-I'm fine, Yoko-san, you came just in time."

"I'm glad," Yoko said. Her smile slipped away as the rest of the thugs surrounded her. Each looked angry, with Pompadour having some rather concerning veins throbbing in his forehead. "You boys really don't learn, do you?" Yoko said. She sighed and leant on the bokken like a cane. "Maybe if you didn't look like such obvious hooligans, maybe some girls might deign to give you the time of day. Or maybe you need to learn that no means no."

"Tch, get off your high horse, Ikawazu," Pompadour said, sneering as he reached into his jean pockets. "Weren't two years ago now that you were one of us _hooligans_."

"Huh?" Katase blinked, eyes widening.

"Guess going to that fancy academy makes you better than us, huuuuuh?" Pompadour said, drawling out the end with a giant sneer. "Too good to roll with your crew from middle school, huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh?!"

Yoko raised a brow. "Did…did you just have a stroke?"

"What?" Pompadour blinked, exaggerated twist of the lips dropping into a confused frown. "No, I'm being threatening."

"I'm shaking." Yoko said with a derisive scoff.

"Tch, you've always pissed me off, Ikawazu," Pompadour said, narrowing his eyes at her in a glare. "Even back then you acted like you were better than all of us."

Pompadour's thugs started to look a little uncomfortable. Their aggressive stances started to loosen, and they glanced between each other with uncertainty. Nobody noticed, as Katase was too enamoured with the conversation, and the participants of said talk were too focused on each other.

"Well, to be entirely fair, I was—and still am." Yoko brought the bokken up to rest it on her shoulder. "Besides, as far as I remember, it was you bottom feeders who gathered around me."

"Maybe." Pompadour admitted with a shrug. "I'll give you that second bit. But we all know that at the end of the day, you're worse than all of us put together, Ikawazu."

Yoko's eyes narrowed. Her expression closed off, and she pushed her sunglasses up her face with her free hand. "I see. Well, that's your opinion." She turned to Katase, who gulped at the expressionless look on her face. "Bear with me a second, Katase-chan. I'll answer any questions you might have once I deal with these punks."

Katase gave a shaky nod. "S-Sure."

"Like I'll give you the chance," Pompadour pulled his hands out of his pockets and, with a spin of both hands, extended the flip knives he pulled out and charged Yoko with a battle cry, "IKAWAZU!"

The thugs jumped at the cry, and followed their leader with their fists raised. Yoko stood as the thugs all charged her at once, before thrusting the bokken forwards. Unfortunately for Pompadour, he ran straight into the weapon, the wooden tip burrowing right into his solar plexus. Before he had the chance to collapse, Yoko pulled the bokken back and whacked another thug in the head with a two-handed swing. As the two injured boys fell to the ground, Yoko hopped back in time to dodge the other three, causing them to run into each other. Two knocked their heads together, sending them to the ground, pulling the third down with him into a pile of limbs.

The thug cursed as he shoved his dazed friends off him. As he tried to climb to his feet, Yoko swung the bokken at his head, knocking him out and back into the pile. The strike broke the weapon, so she tossed the half in her hand behind her shoulder. Walking over to Pompadour, Yoko kicked the knives away from his hunched over form.

"B-Bitch," he said, coughing and wheezing, clutching his midsection.

"For old times' sake, I'll let you punks off with just this," Yoko said, putting a hand on his head. She leant down, close to his ear, and whispered, "Next time, I won't pull my punches, so to speak." Pulling back, she gripped his head and pushed him backwards, causing him to fall on his back. He coughed as he landed, curling up on his side.

Katase watched the whole thing, awed. As Yoko approached her, several things ran through her head, but the one to emerge was, "Would you like to join the kendo club?"

Yoko stopped in front of Katase, her cold expression warming with confusion. "Huh?"

Katase blushed. "N-Never mind." She looked between the collapsed delinquents on the ground and Yoko, unsure where to begin.

Yoko sighed, donning a contrite expression. "It seems my past has caught up with me today. The things you must think of me, Katase-chan."

Katase bit her lip, and reached for Yoko's hands. Gripping them, she looked into Yoko's eyes. "I-I'll trust you, Yoko-san. I'll trust you enough to let you explain."

"Truly?" Yoko's shoulders slumped in relief, and she squeezed back. The action made Katase realise what she'd done, and she let go with an embarrassed squeak. Yoko chuckled. "Well, let's take this somewhere else, shall we? This isn't a conversation I want to have with these guys nearby."

Katase looked at them with a frown. "Shouldn't we call the police?"

Yoko followed her gaze. "I understand where you're coming from, but I ask you to forgive them." She turned back to Katase and put a hand over her own heart. "They're misguided, they haven't had the same realisations in life that I have. They were my friends, once, and I don't want their lives to be ruined because of their own stupidity."

Katase, despite herself, felt her frown softening. "Yoko-san…even after all that…" Katase was touched by Yoko's kind heart, that even extended to those who tried to hurt her with actions and words. Faced with such strength of character, Katase found she couldn't help but go along with Yoko's wishes. "Ok."

Yoko smiled, and with a hand on Katase back, Yoko lead her date away from the fountain. "Now, there's this wonderful café that I usually like to keep to myself. But, I think after all that you deserve the best I can offer you."

Katase didn't even try to suppress the silly smile Yoko's words made.

* * *

As Yoko walked away with her date, the thugs started to wake up. Pompadour pushed himself to sit on his backside, hands supporting his weight behind him. He let out another cough.

"Damn, Yoko-banchou really let us have it this time, huh?" One of the other thugs said, rubbing his head with a wince. "I actually blacked out for a bit there."

"She broke my sister's bokken!" One of them cried, clutching the two pieces with tears running down his face. "Haruna-nee's gonna kill me!"

"It's only because Yamada said some unnecessary stuff," the one with the nose piercing said, glaring at Pompadour. The effect was ruined somewhat by the bruise forming on his forehead. "All we had do to was follow the script, but no, you had to go too far."

"She caved my stomach in way before that!" Bokken Boy wailed in protest.

"Oh, _shut up_ , Inoue!"

"Nothing I said was untrue, Kimura," Yamada said, glaring back. "How many times have we had to do the whole 'Harass-a-girl-so-Yoko-can-save-the-day-and-look-like-a-reformed-and-upstanding-member-of-society' routine? All it does is make us look bad while she makes girls' panties all wet."

"Hey, if you want to be the one who says no to Yoko-banchou, be my guest," Kimura spat, pushing himself to his feet, clutching his forehead all the while. "But Yoko-banchou really made us into big shots back in middle-school—the highlight of our lives, being in her gang."

"Yeah, we owe Banchou a lot."

" _She_ owes _me_ a new bokken!"

"Your fault for borrowing it, dumbass."

"But—"

"I swear to God, Inoue, _shut it_!"

"Tch, what am I expecting from a bunch of idiot sheep like you lot," Yamada said, scoffing under his breath. "Bottom feeders, indeed." He shook his head. "Whatever, I'm gonna go and enjoy the rest of my weekend."

"Oi, Yamada, you better be here tomorrow!" Kimura yelled at Yamada's retreating form. "If you're not, we're all gonna get it from Yoko-banchou!" He sneered when Yamada gave him the finger over his shoulder. "Got no sense of loyalty, that bastard," he said to the guy next to him.

"Yeah, like he thinks he's better than Banchou or something."

"Dumbass."

As they grumbled amongst themselves, they missed the small figure walking in the same direction their old Banchou went.

* * *

The little bell above the door rang as Yoko led Katase into the café. Within seconds, a waitress was by their side clipboard in hand. "Hello, welcome to Petit Diable Pâtissier." She bowed at the waist for a few seconds. "How may I help you today?"

"Table for two, please." Yoko said, giving a charming smile.

The waitress blushed a little, but remained a paragon of professionalism. "Of course, right this way please."

"I've never seen a café with a waitress before." Katase whispered, looking around in awe as they were lead to their seats.

It was a homely little joint, not too many tables but most of them occupied. Aside from the one leading them, there were two more waitresses patrolling the floor. One of them was giving theirs a dirty look, probably having been a second too late in getting to them first. The boss watched them being led from behind the counter, making a note in his logbook.

"So, Sado-chan, how's work been today?" Yoko said, moving her gaze away from the inter-colleague politics of the café.

"Rewarding, Ikawazu-sama." Waitress Sado said, curt but not cold, glancing over her shoulder to give Yoko a polite smile, "I've been very busy today."

"I'm glad to hear it."

Katase watched the back and forth, a small frown pulling at her lips.

Sado glanced at her, before saying, "This is the first time I've seen you bring someone else here, Ikawazu-sama."

Yoko smiled down at Katase, "Well, I felt that Katase-chan deserved to be treated to such an esteemed establishment."

Katase smiled back, cheeks darkening again.

Sado stopped at a free table. Waving to it, she waited until they sat down opposite each other before saying, "I shall return with your menus post-haste." Giving them another bow, she moved towards the counter.

Katase shuffled in her seat as Yoko watched her. Katase opened her mouth after several seconds, but Sado had already returned with their menus. She closed her mouth as she accepted the menu from the waitress. Looking it over, Katase's eye's widened at the prices.

"The quality reflects the price, I assure you," Yoko said, chuckling at Katase's reaction. ' _At least I can stop coming here, now that I've finally brought a girl here._ ' She kept the relief off her face, restricting it to her thoughts, _'The amount I've spent at this place building a rapport with the staff has been absurd; I could have scouted out three other cafés on the same budget_.' "It's my treat, so don't worry too much about it," she said, cutting off Katase's protests before she could voice them.

After not much more deliberation, Katase conceded to the offer and ordered a cup of coffee and a red velvet cupcake. Yoko herself ordered just the cup—she had another date to finance tomorrow after all. Once Sado left to see their orders through the two sat in silence.

Katase considered starting the conversation they had gone there for, but she knew that it would probably just get interrupted again when their orders arrived. After a couple of minutes of silence, the bell above the door rang, but before Katase could look over in curiosity, Sado returned with a tray.

"My apologies for the wait."

"No need to apologise, you were very quick." Yoko said, smiling at the waitress.

Once Sado had placed their orders on the table she bowed once more. "Please enjoy yourselves. If you need anything, please don't hesitate to call me over." With one more bow she left. As she went, she passed by the waitress who gave her the stink eye. The other woman smirked as she went to get her customers order.

"The waitresses get paid based on how many customers they serve in a day," Yoko explained, seeing Katase's confused expression upon seeing the interaction. "The more they serve, the bigger their pay cheque." Yoko took a sip of her coffee and sighed. "But that's not what you wanted to know, is it."

Katase cleared her throat, shuffling in her seat. "You…you don't have to if you don't want to…"

"No, I told you I would, and I stand by my word." Yoko took another sip, Katase mirroring her. "Well, I guess I should start at the beginning. Before I entered middle school, my parents got a divorce." Katase's face turned sympathetic. "It was for the best, really. My mother, she…wasn't the nicest person. It wasn't the cleanest divorce either. Court got pretty heated at times, since my mother wanted full custody of my sister."

"You have a sister?" Katase blinked.

"Yes, she's older than me by five years. My father argued hard over it, he didn't want to have to wait until she was an adult to see his daughter again. He might have had an easier time of it if my mother had wanted even partial custody of me. But she wanted nothing to do with me. As far as the judge was concerned it was a simple solution to wrap up a messy case; the parents get full custody of one child each, bang the gavel, early lunch break."

"How awful." Katase frowned, giving Yoko her full attention. So focused was she that she didn't react to the odd sight of the waitress from earlier walking past with a tray full of cakes and sweets.

"Naturally, the whole affair made me angry. At my mother, my father, even my sister, it didn't have to make sense, I was just _so_ angry at everything. I started getting into fights at school. I remember my first fight against one of the school delinquents; I can't really remember why we started fighting, but one minute we had locked eyes and the next I had beaten him into the ground.

"After that, he and his buddies tried to get the drop on me several times, which is when I realised how good at fighting I was. It felt good, being good at something for once, so I got into even more fights. After a while I sort of developed a following consisting of all the delinquents in the school. Those boys from earlier were some of the first to join me."

Yoko took a sip of her coffee, and Katase remembered her own beverage gradually cooling in front of her. After they both put their cups down, Katase said, "From what those boys said, and how you are now, clearly you didn't stay like that. To be honest, Yoko-san, after being in the same homeroom with you for over a year, I find it hard to imagine you being a delinquent. You're far too studious and kind to be like those ruffians."

"Yes, things did change," Yoko nodded, staring into her mug. "One day, the careers advisor called me into her office." Yoko chuckled, "She really gave me a talking to. Made me realise that if I kept going down that path I'd end up a nobody." Her cup cracked slightly, her fingers tightening around it. "She told me that it wasn't too late to turn my life around. I realised that she was right, so instead of just throwing my weight around I decided to dedicate myself to my studies.

"The more I studied, the less and less I hung out with my crew, the higher my grades became. It was also around this time that I discovered that I was attracted to girls. Like any teenage girl, I was enamoured by the idea of love and romance, so I started to try my luck with the ladies. Between that and studying, I stopped getting into fights entirely. I refined my charming self during that time, and still to this day I hide behind it, hiding the fact that I never feel ready for a relationship. I've tried with lots of girls, but no matter what, the ending of my parent's marriage lingers in the back of my mind, and the idea of entering a relationship scares me off one entirely. Yet I still ask girls out—it's become a habit that's hard to shake."

"I had no idea." Katase whispered, dabbing at her eyes with a napkin. She could barely take in these revelations. Never did she imagine that the truth behind Yoko being single would be anything so sad. The fact that Yoko had decided to share this with her of all people touched her greatly.

"I always let them down gently, of course. Besides, they deserve better than someone who can't even build the courage to date them properly."

"Don't say that, Yoko-san!" Katase once again reached out for Yoko's hands, eyes glittering in the low lighting of the café. "You'd be a wonderful girlfriend, but you don't have to feel bad about not being ready. Everyone moves at their own pace."

"Katase-chan…" Yoko whispered, adopting a touched expression. Internally, however, she was smirking. _'Heh, hook line and sinker._ ' Taking a deep breath, Yoko forced her voice to shake. "I've never told anyone this before, so would you mind terribly keeping it between the two of us, Katase-chan?" ' _Well, that isn't strictly true. While it is true that I've never gone into this much detail, I tell the general story to every girl I date. But since Yamada decided to run his mouth off, I've had to expand on the story even more than normal. That bastard better hope I don't catch him alone any time soon_.'

"Of course, Yoko-san!" Katase tightened her grip on Yoko's hands. "Thank you for sharing this with me; I knew letting you explain was the right thing to do." She looked down to her hands, and yelped, once again realising she had grabbed Yoko's hands out of nowhere. Extracting them, her face flushed red. The brightness in her cheeks dimmed though as a thought hit her. "So…I'm guessing you're not feeling up for a relationship at this moment?"

"Ah…" Yoko grimaced, looking contrite. "I'm sorry to say that is the case. I apologise if you feel that you've wasted your time going out with me today."

"N-Not at all!" Katase protested, quite loudly if the other customers turning towards them meant anything. After apologising for the disruption, Katase focused on Yoko again. "It's fine, really. At the very least, I got to learn more about you, Yoko-san."

"Thank you for being so understanding." Yoko said, smiling with faux relief. Her smile soon turned mischievous, however. "But still, there is one thing I can do to repay you for wasting your time today."

"H-Honestly, there's no need, Yoko-san."

"Nonsense, besides, I want to." Yoko grinned, leaning in conspiratorially. "If you'd like to enter the world of romance, there's someone who I think is interested in you in that way."

"H-Huh? Really?" Katase leant in, intrigued by the sudden shift in the conversation. "Who?"

"Your friend, Murayama-san."

"EH!? You think!?" Once again Katase was forced to apologise for being a nuisance. Taking a big bite of her cupcake to shut herself up, she spent a few moments mulling over what Yoko said.

"Totally. You may not have caught it, but Murayama-san was giving me dirty looks yesterday when I approached the two of you. She was definitely jealous that I had asked you out." Yoko winked, watching Katase swallow her mouthful.

"I never noticed." Katase was embarrassed to admit. At the time, she had been too enamoured by Yoko to really notice what her friend was doing. "But still, since when did she feel that way about me?" But as she thought about it, she had to admit that it made a certain kind of sense. Memories flashed through her mind. Like the times that Murayama had yelled at perverts for looking at Katase. Or the time that the two of them practiced kissing; she hadn't noticed it at the time, but looking back Murayama had been rather red afterwards. She gasped as she remembered how her friend said she couldn't help her get ready for her date that morning. Obviously, she had lied about having homework to do still, since she didn't want to help Katase prepare for a date with someone that wasn't her.

"I see that you've realised something." Yoko said, taking a sip from her coffee.

"Yes, I suppose I have." Katase muttered. Now that the idea had been brought up to her, she examined her friendship with Murayama with a different lens. The feelings she had written off as friendship and even sisterhood suddenly seemed like something else entirely. Katase's face went red again. "Wow…I feel so dense."

"Sometimes we need someone's help to point out what's right under our noses." Yoko said knowingly.

"What am I going to do?!" Katase wondered, laying a hand over her chest, feeling her heart pounding. "I-I have no idea how to approach her about this."

"And we come back to my offer." Yoko said, getting Katase's attention once more. "To make up for today, I'll help you to talk to Murayama-san about all of this. I'll even teach you some of my moves if you like."

"Would you, really?" Katase couldn't believe it. She had begun the date hoping to go steady with Yoko, but now here she was, being offered dating advice from the girl herself. "That would be great! I'd really appreciate that."

"Of course, it's the least I can do." Yoko smiled. Checking her watch, she whistled. "Wow, we spent longer than I thought talking about all this. I'm sorry to say, Katase-chan, but we'll have to continue this discussion another time."

Katase checked her watch. "Wow, we were here that long?"

"How about we continue this discussion on Monday at lunch time?" Yoko suggested as she raised her hand, waving for the waitress to come over. "We can start planning how to get you and Murayama-san together."

Katase, yet again, blushed at this. "Yes…I'd like that."

' _Perfect. Not only will this add to my legend as the Flower of Kuoh, but when news gets around that I played matchmaker for those two, my popularity will become even greater. Well, either that or I'll destroy a good friendship by making things really awkward, but I know jealously when I see it. Murayama was greener than a particularly ill frog. I do love it when I notice little things that make my life so much easier._ '

Sado the waitress arrived shortly and Yoko paid their bill. Katase took the time to finish off her cupcake—given how expensive it was, Yoko might have shoved the damn thing down her neck if she hadn't. Leaving the café, the two said their goodbyes; one feeling optimistic about her love life, and the other basking in the feel of another successful endeavour.

* * *

"Here's your bill, miss." Akane the waitress sweat-dropped at the plates piled up on the table. Considering how small the girl she served was, she was amazed she could eat so much, never mind stomaching all the sugar. "Um…you are able to pay for all this, aren't you?"

The girl turned her blank gaze onto the waitress. "Do you take card?"

"Um, yes, we do."

"Then yes, I can." Reaching into her pocket, the stoic girl pulled out a black and gold credit card.

Akane's jaw dropped. Never in her life had she seen a black credit card. Taking it with shaking hands, she gave it a look over. "Bank of…Gremory? Never heard of it."

"It's real." The white-haired girl said, looking at Akane as if she was staring into her soul. The girl's golden eyes creeped Akane out.

"R-Right, of course."

As she paid for her snacks, Koneko thought that this was a small price for her master to pay for making her follow someone like Ikawazu Yoko around for days on end. In fact…

"I'll take a cheesecake, a chocolate gateau, and three velvet cupcakes to go."

"E-EH!?"

Sometimes, her job really had its perks.

* * *

 **** **Originally** **, I intended to do both Katase and "Yuma"'s dates in one chapter, but this one ended up being longer than I expected. I had made you guys wait long enough for another chapter, and since this one already the sort of length I like to make chapters, I decided to split them up. So, look forward to Yoko's date with "Yuma", and for the Devilry to be put in Motion…well, not that Yoko isn't pretty devilish already, but you know what I mean.**

 **Until then, please consider leaving a review, as they really do help me get chapters done sooner. If you're excited about it, then I'll be even more excited than I already am! Can't wait to get into the stuff I have planned for this story, should be fun.**

 **Laters!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here it is, chapter 3 of Devilry in Motion, and the date with "Yuma". Hope you find this chapter enjoyable.**

* * *

"How despicable," Rias grimaced behind her hands, crossed as they were before her face. "She actually has a gang of thugs accost her dates so she can come across as a hero? That's something I'd expect of…" She cut herself off, remembering that Koneko was still in the room. The young Rook had been in the middle of telling her master about the date she tailed Yoko on when Rias interjected with her opinion.

"Ara ara, it's almost impressive, really," Akeno said, crossing her arms under her breasts. "You'd think she was a devil already." Despite her joking tone, her eyes were harsh. She tilted her head when she saw a small frown on Koneko's face. Having known the girl for years, Akeno was at least able to tell her frowns apart, and Koneko wasn't frowning in disgust like she normally would towards perverts. "Is something wrong, Koneko-chan?"

Rias pulled herself away from her internal cussing of a certain phoenix to give her Rook a concerned look. "What's the matter, Koneko?"

"…It's weird."

"What's weird?"

"…Ikawazu-senpai."

"What about her?"

"…After all that, she turned Katase-senpai down."

"Wait, seriously?"

"…Basically."

Rias and Akeno shared a wide-eyed glance. "Well, that's unexpected." With prompting from Rias, Koneko continued her story. Once she finished, Akeno tilted her head, pressing a palm against her cheek. "Ara ara, I suppose we know now why all those girls never have a bad thing to say about her. If she says the same thing to every girl she dates, it's no wonder."

"…Why…" Rias muttered, narrowing her eyes down at her desk. "After all that effort—the thugs, the expensive café, the sob story—why go through all that and not carry through with the seduction? What's her endgame?"

"Maybe she's hoping for a threesome with Katase-san and her friend?" Akeno said, shrugging. "She plays matchmaker and gets a two-for-one bargain."

Rias nodded after a few seconds thought. "That's probably it," she said, lips curling at the thought.

"Are you sure that you want someone like her in the peerage, Buchou?" Akeno asked, frowning slightly. "Not to say I doubt your decisions, but would Ikawazu-san really be a good fit with us?" She said, with Koneko giving a small nod of agreement.

Rias sighed, a heavy sound that practically made the desk beneath her creak under its weight. "I see where you're coming from, but I have my reasons for wanting her to join." She and Akeno shared a significant look that figuratively and literally went over Koneko's head. "Besides, as you said, she'd make for a good devil. In fact, her penchant for scheming and manipulation could be useful in Rating Games, if it can be translated into strategic planning."

"I suppose you could use every advantage you can get over Sona-kaichou." Akeno said with a closed-eyed smile.

Rias narrowed her eyes on her Queen, but decided that responding would just be playing into her hands. Instead, she turned to give Koneko a smile. "Good work, Koneko. Thank you for the hard work."

"…It's fine, it was worth it…mostly."

"Hm?"

Koneko pulled out a piece of paper and held it out to Rias. Rias raised a brow but took it, Koneko leaving straight after. Looking over the receipt, her eyes practically popped out of her skull. Akeno read it over her shoulder, and muffled her laughter behind her hand.

"Looks like Koneko-chan enjoyed herself despite everything."

"…It's a good job I'm rich."

"Ufufufu."

Rias sighed as she opened one of her desk drawers, slipping the receipt inside it. Out of sight, out of mind. "That aside, we should discuss the drop-off in how many contracts we've been getting lately." She said, picking up the sheet of paper she had been reading before Koneko gave her report.

Akeno turned serious, a rare event that Rias secretly wished would happen more often. "I noticed that as well. I haven't been requested by Mrs Konoe in weeks; she was one of my top customers."

"We may have to start having our familiars hand out more leaflets in order to rebuild our customer base. However, unless we find out the cause of the drop-off it'll just be putting a band-aid on the situation." Rias muttered, reading the report. "From the look of it, Sona is having the same problem. And according to her investigations into the matter, the drop-off isn't due to customers being murdered or injured."

"Threatened, maybe?"

"Possibly, but from her servant's observations, their ex-customers don't seem to be in any sort of distress. In fact, they seem to be more at ease than ever." Rias's eyes narrowed on the document. "However, it seems there are eye witness reports of what appears to be a nun lurking around town."

"Stray, or missionary?"

"Unconfirmed, but the latter is more likely since she hasn't shown any overtly malicious behaviour. Not to say that being from the church and having malice are mutually exclusive, of course. But if a Stray was behind this, it's hard to imagine them doing so without violence."

"If she is a stray, she's most likely working with the Fallen," Akeno said. The small twitch in her face whenever the fallen angels were mentioned would have been missed if Rias hadn't known her Queen for so long. "I wouldn't put it past them to find a way to sabotage us without actually doing anything that would violate the treaty."

"Even so, we can't be sure that she is behind the drop-off. Even if she is, as long as they don't directly attack us there isn't much we can do about it," Rias said. She leant back in her seat with a sigh. "Regardless, for now we should definitely work on increasing leaflet output. Something for our future member to take care of when she joins."

"Ara, have I rubbed off on you, Buchou?" Akeno licked her lips, an appreciative gleam appearing in her eyes. "Keep that up and it might be literal instead of figurative."

"Don't you have things to do?" Rias said, narrowing her eyes, trying to ignore the red tinge dusting her cheeks.

"No; well, I suppose something has just _come_ up—"

"Ugh! Just get out of here before I douse you in cold water."

"Kinky."

"AKENO!"

"Ufufu."

* * *

"Your dream will be granted?" Yoko repeated, raising a brow at the leaflet in her hand.

On her way to her date with Yuma—and she would take with her the fact that she was nervous to her death—Yoko had been stopped by a cute girl in what she could only assume was some sort of cosplay. After all, what kind of normal outfit included a pair of bat wings? Yoko had no idea what she was cosplaying as, but she imagined it was from the kind of things Matsuda and Motohama watched alone in the dark. She had been handed a strange leaflet and the cosplayer left before she could finish looking it over.

The leaflet was somewhat ominous, what with the strange occult-ish magic circle printed on it and the occasional red rose dotted around the page. Further inspection showed no indication of what the leaflet was for; it could have been anything from a themed café to a swinger's crack den—the nude women on it made the latter seem more likely. There was no address, phone number, email address, nor any other sort of contact information, nor was there any mention of special offers.

"Some sort of promotional event?" Yoko mused, looking at the back of the leaflet, but it was just a copy of the other side. Yoko shrugged and shoved it into her back pocket, deciding to chuck it in the first bin she saw. Looking at her watch, she saw the time; 1:30. She carried on, huffing at being slightly behind schedule. Soon enough she reached the local park.

Further she went until she reached the centre of the park; a large fountain with a few benches surrounding it. Loitering around the edge were her former gang members, the ones she beat up yesterday. As she approached, she could see Yamada sulking on one of the benches, his ridiculous pompadour drooping in the heat. Her lips twitched into a smirk. She'd give him something to sulk about.

"Banchou!" One of the guys noticed her approach, and they all jumped to their feet, except Yamada who took his time. He had finally stood up by the time she stopped in front of them. He gave her a sullen look, but she ignored it as Kimura spoke up.

"You wanted to talk to us, Yoko-Banchou?" He said. He gave Yamada a dirty look, which was returned.

"Just wanted to make sure that we don't have a repeat of yesterday," she said, moving her gaze across the lot of them. They shifted in place, each giving Yamada not so subtle looks. When her gaze landed on Yamada, she said, "I don't want any screw ups this time, so Kimura," she turned to him, who straightened at the attention, "you'll be the one doing the talking today. Stick to the script and I won't give you anymore bruises."

Most of them nodded, but Inoue decided to pipe in. "What about my sister's bokken? You snapped it! Haruna-nee beat me up because of you!"

"Suck it up, you shouldn't have borrowed it," she said.

"That's what I said."

"But—"

"I'm sick of this bullshit!" Yamada yelled, cutting off Inoue's whining. The others watched on, petrified, as Yamada pointed at Yoko and glared at her. "Why the hell do we have to keep doing this for you? We waste time every week doing this farce for your benefit, but what do we get out of it? Nothing! You're a washed-up has-been, Ikawazu, and I'm sick of being your lapdog!" Yamada sneered, spitting into the fountain.

"…You don't _have_ to do anything," Yoko said, after letting the others to stew in their nerves for a few seconds. She looked Yamada straight in the eyes, speaking in a calm and steady tone, "After all, all I've done is ask if you wanted to help me out. If you want, you can cut ties with me right now, and we'll never see each other again. You'll never have to 'waste time' on this 'farce' ever again. All you have to do is walk away."

"You bet your ass I'm walking away!" Yamada said, leering down at her. He turned to his friends and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Come on guys, let's get out of here."

Instead of the exodus he had been expecting, the others stayed in place, looking uncomfortable.

"Oi, what're you all waiting for? We can finally stop this bullshit."

"Er, yeah, we don't actually mind," one said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah, we're not gonna abandon Yoko-Banchou just because you said so," Kimura said, crossing his arms with a sneer.

"You…" Yamada stared at them in a mix of shock and anger. He turned to Inoue, "Come on, Inoue, you seriously want to help her after what she did to your sister's bokken?"

Inoue shuffled on his feet, scratching behind his ear. "Well…to be fair…it was my fault for borrowing it...I guess…"

"You don't have to explain yourself to this guy, Inoue," Kimura said, putting a hand on Inoue's shoulder. He glared at Yamada, "You might want to abandon Yoko-Banchou, but we have a little thing called loyalty."

Yamada gaped, not believing what he was hearing. "You…" He looked at each of his fellows in turn, but their initial discomfort had gone, replaced by confidence and certainty. He looked at Yoko, and the small curl at the corner of her lips snapped him out of his stupor. "Fine! If you idiots want to be her on-call thugs for the rest of your lives, then be my guest. I'm gonna go and do something with my life!"

Yoko watched as he stormed off, satisfaction coiling in her gut. ' _In one fell swoop not only have I removed a troublesome element, I've also alienated him from his friends, and reinforced said friend's loyalty to me by coming across as the reasonable one in that confrontation. It was a gamble—I was expecting at least Inoue to go with him—but things turned out even better than I planned._ '

"What a douche." Kimura said, spitting on the ground.

"Yeah."

"Fuck that guy."

Yoko turned back around with a clap, returning their attention onto her. "Thank you, guys, for sticking with me. I'd be lost without you lot helping me out," she said with a warm smile.

"Of course we'd stick with you, Banchou!"

"Yeah, like we'd leave you out to dry."

"Don't worry about today, Banchou," Kimura said, stepping forward to the front of the group. "We'll make sure to stick to the script. This time it'll be like always, now that bastard Yamada isn't here to screw it up for everyone."

"Excellent," Yoko said, nodding. She looked at her watch. "Right, it's quarter too, you guys head on over. I'll follow after you in a few minutes."

"You got it, Banchou!"

The boys left, each of them giving their own affirmations and assurances as they went. Once they were out of earshot, Yoko rolled her eyes. "Idiots, the lot of them. Yamada might be the only one of them who had a brain. At least he won't be a problem anymore."

She stared at the fountain, wasting the minutes as she watched the water flow down. Yoko didn't like fountains very much. She didn't see the point in them. All they do is draw water in, eject it out, then repeat the process ad nauseum. Sure, they looked pretty, but there was absolutely no substance to them. All they did was take up space and invite idiots to gawk at them.

Yoko scoffed, shaking her head. Like she hadn't been doing that herself for the last—she checked her watch—five minutes. With one last look at the fountain, she headed off in the direction the boys went. As long as they hadn't been dragging their feet, she figured she'd get there just in time for one of her signature dramatic rescues.

* * *

"Urgh…"

"Ow…"

"What the…" Yoko stared, wide-eyed at the scene before her.

Scattered around the fountain—the one in town, this time—were her subordinates, as planned. They had surrounded her date, Yuma, again, as planned. But in a clear deviation from the tried and true scheme she had implemented time and again, they were already beaten up.

"Oh, Yoko-chan, you've arrived," Yuma said, turning her alluring purple eyes to her young date. "Good afternoon."

Yoko just stared, stumped. ' _This…this has never…what?_ '

"Oh, you must be a bit shocked by all this," Yuma said, gesturing at the battered thugs around her. She chuckled, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "Well, I was waiting here where we agreed to meet, when these young men approached me. They must have thought I was an easy target, being alone and outnumbered, so they tried to accost me. I thought I'd teach these little boys just who they were messing with."

"Urk…" Kimura groaned, trying to push himself up. His nose was clearly broken, and the fact he was trying to push himself up with one arm didn't bode well for the other's condition. "D…Demon…"

Yuma's eyes flashed, and she stamped on the back of his hand, heel first. Kimura screeched as her high-heel dug into the back of his hand, ominous crunching loud and clear even over his cries. "How rude. First you assault me, then you insult me," she sneered, digging the heel further in, ignoring his whimpers and moans. "Good luck jacking your micro-penis now both your hands are busted." With one last push, Yuma removed her high heel, leaving Kimura to curl around his hand and cry.

Yoko watched, mouth going dry, forcing her to swallow. ' _This…wasn't part of the plan…_ '

Yuma walked over and grabbed Yoko's hand, rubbing Yoko's shoulder with her other hand. "Well, let's not waste any more time on these low lives, hmm?" She gave a dangerous smile that, despite everything, made Yoko hot under the collar.

Yoko let herself be tugged along, her date leading the way, while Yoko stared at the battered forms being left behind.

By the time Yoko had gotten her wits back together, Yuma was pulling her into a shop. Looking around, she realised they were in a women's clothing store. "I hope you don't mind, Yoko-chan, but I wanted to buy some underwear," Yuma whispered in her ear, pressing her chest against Yoko's arm. "See, I forgot to put on any underwear this morning, so I thought I'd buy some now."

Yoko's face flushed, and her eyes darted down to Yuma's breasts. Her date wore a top with an almost criminally low neckline, showing off a large portion of her generous cleavage. Looking carefully, she could see Yuma's nipples straining beneath her shirt; she could feel one pressing into her arm. Yoko's gut clenched and her mouth went dry again. She wrenched her gaze back up, into the purple orbs that constantly bewitched her.

Yoko managed a nod, barely even able to form words. She had no idea what was happening. One moment she was watching Yuma brutalise one of her old friends, and the next she was driving Yoko crazy with desire. In all the dates she'd been on, she had been the one in control, the one doing the flustering. She'd never dated anyone so…forward and…sensual.

Yuma let out a sultry giggle, sending the hairs on the back of Yoko's neck skyward. After Yuma had picked a few sets of lingerie—Yoko stopped looking at them after the second set that looked like string—she beckoned Yoko to follow her to the changing rooms. Pushing Yoko down onto a chair, Yuma winked and stepped into one of the booths. The curtain was just short enough that she could see Yuma's ankles, and with them the clothes that fell to the floor.

Yoko gulped. _'She's totally naked in there…_ ' She tugged on her collar, trying to fan her neck as the temperature rose. The date had only just started and the woman's clothes were already on the floor. Annoyance battled with arousal. _'How the hell have I let control of this date get so far away from me? She keeps throwing me off my game! Well, no more. I'm going to get control back the first chance I get!'_

The sound of the curtain opening had Yoko looking up, and her machinations went out the window as her jaw dropped. Standing in the booth was Yuma, wearing one of the sets of lingerie. It looked like a camisole, if camisoles were 95% see-through. Black lace cupped Yuma's large breasts, struggling to keep them contained. The front parted as it reached her mons pubis, which was covered by more lace connected to thin straps wrapping around her broad hips. Yuma struck a pose, jutting said hips to the side, and Yoko realised that she was still wearing her high heels.

"Hmm, the look on your face is all the feedback I need." Yuma said, smirking at the gobsmacked expression on Yoko's face. With a slow turn, she showed Yoko how the string of the panties settled between her cheeks; Yoko bit her lip to hold in a whimper as the curtain closed.

'… _words…sentences…how do…_ ' She shook her head hard enough to make herself dizzy. ' _Snap out of it, Ikawazu! Stop being distracted by the sexy! So maybe the routine failed earlier, and maybe I didn't expect to be watching her try on lingerie, but it isn't too late to wrest back control of this date. You're being pathetic—acting like the Perverted Duo over nothing you haven't seen before. I've been in changing rooms at school, I've seen actual boobs, some sexy strips of lace shouldn't be enough to fluster me. Sure, those girls at school might not be as…mature as Yuma, but you're Ikawazu Yoko, the Flower of Kuoh, you're the one who does the flustering, the one who makes girls' hearts skip a beat, the one who turns on the charm. So snap. Out. Of. It!_ '

"Oh dear." Yuma's voice came from behind the curtain. Yoko squared her shoulders, mentally bracing herself for whatever her date did next. "I'm having a bit of trouble with this one. Yoko-chan, could you come in here for a moment."

Yoko jerked, as if a giant arrow had pierced her stomach. But, she took a deep breath through her nose and pushed down the nerves trying to bubble up. "Of course, no problem." She mentally celebrated the smoothness of her response. Her face was still burning, but she managed to force her blush down by at least half. After taking a quick look around, Yoko slipped around the curtain and entered the booth. Yoko bit her lip at the sight not even half a metre away from her.

Dressed in only a pair of pink panties, Yuma had a bra pressed against her bosom with both arms, the hefty orbs spilling out of the cups. She glanced over her shoulder, and smiled, her hooded eyes burning into Yoko's own. "I can't quite hook it on right, like this. I hope you don't mind doing it for me." She gave her breasts a subtle shake, and Yoko couldn't help but watch her flesh ripple.

"My pleasure." It took all of Yoko's mental concentration this time to avoid stuttering. Raising her hands up, she decided to turn the tables on Yuma and trail the tips of her fingers up Yuma's back as she moved them to the bra straps. ' _So soft._ ' Yoko swallowed, managing to make it inaudible. In stark contrast, Yuma let out a sensual moan as Yoko's fingers crept up her skin. The unexpected noise made Yoko falter, and she couldn't help but glance backwards in case someone heard. Studiously ignoring how hot her face was, Yoko hurried up and hooked the bra. Over Yuma's shoulder, Yoko saw how the bra barely contained her breasts, and how tightly it pulled them together.

"Thank you, Yoko-chan." Yuma turned around, pushing her bra-clad chest against Yoko's. Leaning against Yoko, Yuma moved her lips next to Yoko's ear. Yoko was, in that moment, struck by Yuma's scent. She couldn't find the words to describe it, but everything about it appealed to her senses. Yuma's hot breath caressed her ear lobes, earning a shudder as she said, "What do you think?"

Thinking was a tall order in that situation, but Yoko rose to the challenge. This was the big moment, her chance to truly get control of the date back in her hands. Resting her hands on Yuma's womanly hips, Yoko leaned in close to this time whisper into Yuma's ear. "I think you look gorgeous, beyond what words can describe."

"Hmmm." Yuma pulled back, just enough for Yoko to see her smirk. "I assure you, I look better natural." And in a swift, smooth motion, completely contradicting her supposed issue from before, Yuma reached behind her back and unclipped the bra with one hand, letting the flimsy fabric fall to the floor.

For not the first time that afternoon, Yoko's thoughts ground to a complete halt. Her eyes froze on Yuma's, drinking in the triumphant look in them. Without any conscious effort on her part, her eyes jerked downwards. Yuma's left arm covered her nipples, leaving her breasts to mould around her forearm. With a deep, sultry laugh, Yuma put her hand on Yoko's shoulder, span her around, and pushed her lightly at the curtain.

"Out you go," she said in a sing song tone.

Yoko mechanically exited the booth, staring blankly ahead as she returned to her seat. ' _…This might be a bit harder than I thought_.'

When Yuma next opened the curtain, wearing the second set she picked out, Yoko's brain shut off like an immortal stuck in space, protecting her teetering mental state. She remained like this until Yuma was ready to leave. It didn't make her much of a conversationalist, but Yuma seemed satisfied with her absent nods of approval. She recovered enough mental wherewithal to offer to buy the lingerie, but Yuma almost blew her mind again when she said she didn't want to buy any after all.

"I enjoy the breeze." She said with a wink. Yoko wanted to be annoyed, but the thought that her date was going commando kept distracting her from it for the rest of the day.

The rest of the date went in a similar vein. In a café that Yuma had dragged her to—which to Yoko's dismay, was one she had already taken a girl to—Yuma kept rubbing her foot up Yoko's leg, almost making her spill her coffee the first time. Between that and the questions from a waitress Yoko had charmed in the past, Yoko's nerves were on edge throughout the entire visit. Yuma seemed amused, watching her attempts to placate the upset girl that Yoko had promised to visit but never did. The unrepentant game of footsie made Yoko's usual charming persona stutter and just made her look even guiltier.

After the café they went to see a movie, one that Yoko was pretty sure she wasn't old enough to see. Yuma seduced the ticket seller with ease to allow Yoko in. Erotic scenes played on the big screen, Yuma whispering into her ear the entire time. The relentless double attack left Yoko hot and bothered for the entire two hours of the film's runtime.

Somewhere between the café and the theatre, Yoko resigned herself to never getting control of the date. For once, she decided to let someone else take the lead. It was a surprisingly therapeutic decision, and despite becoming increasingly more flustered, she paradoxically became more and more relaxed. For once, she wasn't the perfect playgirl, Ikawazu Yoko. She didn't have to go through any farces, no sob stories. She didn't have to control the flow of the date, be the one with all the plans.

As the day went on, a light feeling grew in her chest. Even when she wasn't actively seducing her, Yuma made her heart race. She imagined that it was what she made girls feel like when she flirted with them. She took shy glances at Yuma, when she thought the woman wasn't looking. The woman's confidence, both in her body and her behaviour, made Yoko feel like a fake. Yuma spoke and moved with an ease that made Yoko feel clumsy in comparison.

Yoko didn't like to feel vulnerable, but she thought that maybe it wasn't so bad every now and then. The idea that she could just be with someone without putting on airs was as scary as it was appealing. The idea that she might have found that someone was enough to make her head light. She chanced another glance, only to look away with a blush when Yuma caught her eyes.

Almost too soon, evening began to approach, and Yoko found herself walking through the park with Yuma. The same park where she had alienated Yamada. The sight of the fountain reminded her of the state her subordinates had been left in next to another fountain. She almost paused at the reminded of what happened to them, but Yuma soon tugged her along.

"Looks like our date is just about over." Yuma said, every word like a sensual caress on her ears. She took a few steps ahead of Yoko, looking at the fountain. The setting sun cast Yuma in an almost ethereal glow, one she seemed to bask in. Yoko followed her gaze, once again finding herself staring into the falling water.

Funnily enough, the fountain didn't annoy her as much as it did that afternoon. This time, she found herself appreciating the beauty of the serene view. That, combined with the sunset acting as a backdrop for Yuma, made for a picturesque view. As Yoko considered pulling out her phone to take a picture, Yuma turned back around.

"Before we part ways, could you do just one little thing for me, Yoko-chan."

In that moment, Yoko would have done anything for her. "Yes." She managed to say. The suave lines she normally deployed failed to form, leaving only Yoko's honest desire to please her.

Yuma smiled. "Then, die for me."

Black wings burst out of Yuma's back, sending dark feathers into the air as they flapped behind her. Her smile turned dark, even more dangerous than when she brutalised Kimura's hand. Her warm, sensual, teasing eyes turned cold, taunting.

Yoko couldn't even react. It was like a family picnic being trashed by a runaway truck, sudden and incomprehensible.

"It was fun, watching you get all flustered over a little skin and attention. I love watching arrogant fools like you when the tables are turned on them. So different from the front you put on with all those over girls. Honestly, the entire time I've been watching you you've sickened me. All that effort, everything you do to seduce them, and not once have you followed through. Such a waste of time and energy. You have to be the most frustratingly pathetic human being I've ever seen, and that's saying something."

Each word felt like another truck through another picnic.

"There's no chance a loser like you could be a threat to us. Even with one of the Sacred Gears given by God. Even if you had The Longinus itself, you wouldn't be able to use even a percentage of its power properly. Not someone as short-sighted and aimless as you."

"…What…what are you saying…"

"Hmm, what does it sound like? I'm letting you know what a worthless waste of space you are before I kill you. Honestly, I'll be doing the world a favour by removing such a blight from it."

 _Worthless_.

And as a spear of light pierced Yoko's chest, all she could think about was that maybe _that woman_ had been right all along.

Collapsing to the ground made the pain even greater. Her whole body rattled, her vision flashing white for a moment.

Yoko watched as her blood spurted from her chest, like a sick caricature of the fountain next to her. Only her blood wouldn't return to her body, to be expelled and returned indefinitely. In a moment of delirium, Yoko mused that even a fountain was more worthwhile than her. The water feature she had sneered at would remain, innocently fulfilling its purpose, while she died a pointless death, capping off a pointless life.

"Ahh, that was almost better than sex. A great climax after so much build up. Honestly, if I had to watch another one of those cut and paste dates again I would have gone mad. 'Boo hoo, mommy didn't love me'. Give me a break. Bleed out and die, Ikawazu Yoko. So long and good riddance."

The flapping of wings soon became a distant noise, soon being drowned out by the rushing water from the fountain.

'… _Is this…really it? After everything, this is how it ends?'_

The pain in her chest went beyond the giant hole in it. Tear leaked from her eyes as it began to sink in.

'… _She was right, wasn't she? I really am…a waste of space…I guess that's what I get…thinking that someone…anyone…could…actually…'_ She coughed, blood splattering her chin. _'Heh…what a waste of time…my life has been…mother was right…in the end…I'll die…alone…unloved…how pathetic…_ '

Her vision began to fade, the encroaching blackness covering her view of the sunset. _'…whatever…I guess…it isn't all bad…at least…I don't…have…to…try…any…more…it's…kind…of…a…relief…actu_

* * *

Rias frowned down at the body at her feet, biting the nail of her thumb. "Why didn't the leaflet summon me? Did she throw it away after all?" Even as she said it, she knew that wasn't it. She could sense its presence in the girl's pocket. "Surely she wanted to live. Did she bleed out before the thought could cross her mind?"

Koneko said nothing, merely staring at her deceased senpai with a blank expression. She thought about telling her master what the Fallen Angel had said, but decided against it. She knew that her master was sheltered. Knew that the older girl had the perfect life, never knowing true hardship. Rias could never imagine it, losing the will to live. A feeling that Koneko was all too familiar with. Her sleeve was damp, having wiped the older girls tears away before she summoned her master.

Even someone like Ikawazu Yoko deserved some dignity in death, she thought. That, and she didn't want her master to come to the same conclusion she had. Rias would never forgive herself, and preventing that was the least the Rook could do for her King.

"Well, she doesn't have to know she didn't summon me." Rias said, nodding to herself. "I doubt she'd have remembered me appearing anyway, if it had happened."

More proof of how sheltered her master was. Koneko knew from experience that one doesn't easily forget their final thoughts, when they think death is upon them. She hoped that Rias would never experience it personally.

"Live for me, Ikawazu Yoko. Enjoy your new life as a Devil."

* * *

 **Bit nervous about this chapter, not sure how well it came out in the end. It could have been longer in the date part, but I felt that going into too much detail would just be pointless filler. Please, tell me what you guys think.**

 **Anyway, I've decided to start answering questions/addressing reviews at the end of each chapter, so if you have a question ask away. I'll answer as best as I can, without giving too much away that is.**

 **DschingisKhan: lol, I'm glad you find Yoko less likeable than Issei, it means I did what I set out to do. Issei himself is pretty unlikeable, but I feel like it's totally unintentional on Ishibumi's part. I wanted to make a character whose intentionally unlikeable from the get go. I like initially unlikeable characters, they tend to become my faves once they develop. Also, I hope I've given a small insight into your wonderings on why Yoko does the things she does. I hope your interest in her and this story continues :)**

 **Derek23: I won't be doing a harem list, sorry. I don't like them, they're kinda like micro spoilers. If I know if a character is going to be in the main character's harem, when they appear in the story it won't be as exciting. Instead of wondering if they will or not, giving some mystery and intrigue, I'm just like "Oh, here's harem member number 7, yay". Besides, I don't like affirming stuff before I'm ever certain. I don't like it when I see a character in a harem who I like, then later on the author has changed their mind and put them with someone else. So yeah, sorry, but if I ever do a harem list, it will be when they actually join it. Also, about lemons, maybe? I dunno, I've never written lemons before. They might be in the story, but that won't be for a good while yet.**

 **Leblanc23: Yeah, I wanted to show that there are people who don't fall for her act. Don't want Yoko to be a mary sue or anything. Yoko is far from perfect, she's full of flaws, but it's my hope that that's what makes her interesting.**

 **Ok, that's enough for now, it's like half twelve in the morning and I want some sleep lol. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I'll see you guys in a couple of weeks.**

 **P.S. about update rate, I'm sticking to one chapter every two weeks for now, but I'm hoping that as the story picks up more steam I'll be able to do at least one chapter every ten days, then maybe even one a week. But, it's early days yet, I'm getting used to writing again. Don't want to overwhelm myself.**

 **Until next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**(Sorry if there's been any confusion with this upload. FanFiction dragged its heels in actually replacing the AN from before with the actual chapter 4)**

 **Sorry for the slight delay. It has been decided that I will indeed be giving Yoko the Boosted Gear. A large majority wanted it, and I pretty much wanted it as well.**

 **Sorry if that disappoints any of you, but this story is more about Yoko than it is her powers. In fact, Yoko being the Sekiryuutei opens up a lot of opportunities for me in writing her character.**

 **I hope this chapter in enjoyable. A bit uncertain about this one, but I like it for the most part.**

* * *

Yoko woke with a gasp. Wide eyed, she took in her surroundings: a rather plain room, with a bed, a desk near the bed, a desk chair, and a wall that doubled as a wardrobe. Panting heavily, Yoko grabbed the area over her heart. Looking down at her chest, she saw that she was wearing the same nightshirt she wore on Saturday night.

"Was…was that all a dream? No, more like a nightmare." Yoko sighed, relieved. It had been a while since she last had a nightmare, but that one took the cake. "So vivid, but obviously a dream. No way I'd act so pathetic on a date." Wiping her brow, she looked at the sweat transferred to the back of her hand. "Better get a shower. Don't want to be all sweaty for my date with Yuma." Saying the name out loud caused a pang where she had been stabbed in her dream. Yoko shuddered.

Shaking off the sudden chill, Yoko scratched her side as she reached for her alarm clock. Yawning, she brought it to her face to read the time. She gasped in the middle of her yawn, making her choke. After clearing her throat, she gripped the clock with two hands, staring directly into the LED screen until the lights started hurting her eyes.

8:00—Monday

"…Wha…" Yoko gaped, staring at the date without really comprehending it. Dropping the clock onto her bed, she took another look at her shirt. Normally, Yoko would wear a different shirt to bed each night; each nightshirt had a specific night of the week which it was worn. Yoko never forgot to change her nightshirts—she would leave them on her bed once she got dressed, ready to be put in the washing basket when she got home. Then, before going to bed, she would take the next shirt from her wardrobe. She had been following that pattern for years, and not once had she broken it.

Jumping out of bed, Yoko went to her wardrobe, wrenching the door open. Hanging in its designated spot was the nightshirt she was meant to be wearing right then. Additionally, the clothes that Yoko had been wearing in her 'dream' were missing, despite her clearly remembering seeing them in there on Saturday. Closing the door, Yoko turned around, staring into space.

"What…what the hell is going on?" Thinking about it, she didn't remember getting ready for bed. In fact, she didn't even remember getting home. The last thing she remembered was

 _Worthless_

 _Waste of space_

 _Pathetic_

 _PAIN_

Yoko gasped, grabbing her chest again. Grabbing the hem, she yanked the shirt off and looked down at her torso. No gaping hole, not even a scratch. Yoko's heavy breathing filled the room.

' _Did…did all that actually happen? There's no way. I'm alive, not a scratch on me. But it is Monday, so Sunday really did happen. It couldn't have been a dream. There's no way I dreamt waking up, eating breakfast, brushing my teeth, and picking out my clothes, all in a smooth sequence of events. Dreams are usually disjointed, moving from one thing to the next with no logical progression. Who the hell dreams about waiting for eggs to cook to make an omelette? But how could it be real? The wings, the spear of light. Being stabbed. That kind of stuff only happen in stories. I mean, being stabbed happens all the time, but by black-winged killer women, wielding glowing magic spears of light?'_

Thinking about that made Yoko remember the words Yuma said. Made her remember the pain she felt in that moment. Yoko collapsed to her knees, tears welling in her eyes.

She remembered Yuma saying all those awful things.

" _Hmm, what does it sound like? I'm letting you know what a worthless waste of space you are before I kill you. Honestly, I'll be doing the world a favour by removing such a blight from it."_

She remembered the pain of being stabbed, too real and vivid to be a dream.

 _Collapsing to the ground made the pain even greater. Her whole body rattled, her vision flashing white for a moment._

She remembered her final thoughts. How she welcomed death.

 _Her vision began to fade, the encroaching blackness covering her view of the sunset. '…whatever…I guess…it isn't all bad…at least…I don't…have…to…try…any…more…it's…kind…of…a…relief…actu_

Yoko took a heaving gasp, tears rolling down her face. She brought one hand to her chest, the other to her mouth, and keened. She muffled her sobs into her palm, each breath causing her entire body to shudder. Her head began to feel stuffy, her eyes becoming sore and puffy. She screwed them closed, trying to stop the tears. She rocked in place, feeling like a little girl again, the old sting of utter rejection flaring once more.

Ten minutes later, and Yoko found herself breathing through a panic attack. She took deep breathes, just trying to ride it out. Ten more minutes passed, and Yoko's breathing returned to normal. She gasped, blinking back the tears that threatened to return. After panting for a good while, Yoko grabbed the side of her bed and pulled herself to her feet.

She stumbled as she got up, putting a hand on her temple. Her head was pounding, her eyes feeling like they were being pushed from behind. She swallowed, hard, trying to relieve the pressure. Grabbing the shirt from her bed she used it to wipe her eyes and face. She sniffled and fell backwards onto her bed, staring at the ceiling.

She closed her eyes, and used every ounce of her remaining mental stamina to take the emotions and the memories and push them all to the back of her mind. After several deep breathes she opened her eyes, tears nowhere in sight. Rubbing her eyes, she sat up again, and started rubbing the rest of her face with both hands. She stopped and looked through the gaps in her fingers.

' _Right…if I accept that all of that happened,_ ' the thought threatened to overwhelm her again, but she brutally shut the emotions down, ' _then that leaves one question. How the hell am I still alive? Actually, no, there's like, a zillion other questions._ '

She pulled her hands away from her face, a thought striking her. One last thing niggling in her mind. Rushing out of her room, she went to the bathroom and opened the door. Grabbing the washing basket, she began looking at its contents. ' _Where are they? The clothes I wore; if I went on a date yesterday, they should be in here._ ' Grabbing the basket, she tipped it upside down. Dirty clothes fell to the floor, and she began sifting through them. _'Please be here. They have to be here. If they're not, then…'_ After a few minutes, she stopped. ' _They're…not here._ ' She sat back, glaring at the mess on the floor.

Much like her nightshirts, when Yoko was through with her date clothes, she would take them off and put them in the washing basket. No matter how tired Yoko might have been, she always put her clothes in the washing basket when she was done for the day. The fact that there were even clothes in the washing basket at all were another red flag- one she hadn't even registered in her panic. Yoko always did the washing on Sunday evening. After the clothes were washed, she would put them in the tumble dryer then iron them to be put away.

Yoko learned early on that to be as successful as she was, strict scheduling was vital. She had gotten time management down to an art form, and the benefits were far too many to even consider deviating from her schedule. It was something she had built on for years; she didn't even have to look at her schedule anymore, having memorised it perfectly. Chores such as cooking and cleaning she did on auto-pilot, no conscious thought required.

The grand point of all this: the blatant deviations from the way Yoko carried out her daily grind were enough for her to be certain something strange was going on.

' _The date on the clock…the lack of an alarm…not remembering getting home…wearing the nightshirt that was left on my bed…my clothes not being in the washing basket…the washing not getting done…I can only think of one conclusion.'_

"That dream wasn't a dream. I really did get stabbed. Yuma…Yuma really did say all those…those things. And somebody found me, healed me—somehow—and took me home, redressed me, disposed of my clothes, and put me to bed."

It sounded crazy, saying it all out loud, but it was the only conclusion that made sense. What was that famous quote? Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. That, or after going out with Yuma, Yoko blacked out and went through the rest of the night without any cognizance, then had a strange dream where the date ended up with her being killed instead.

Still didn't explain her missing clothes. Hence, she had no choice but to believe that her date had grown wings and shanked her.

"Yuma…what the hell is she? Some kind of demon or…some…thing…" Yoko's eyes widened, a memory striking like a bolt from the blue.

" _Urk…" Kimura groaned, trying to push himself up. His nose was clearly broken, and the fact he was trying to push himself up with one arm didn't bode well for the other's condition. "D…Demon…"_

 _Yuma's eyes flashed, and she stamped on the back of his hand, heel first. Kimura screeched as her high-heel dug into the back of his hand, ominous crunching loud and clear even over his cries._

"Kimura…the others…she thrashed them. Was he right, then?"

" _How rude. First you assault me, then you insult me," she sneered, digging the heel further in, ignoring his whimpers and moans._

"No…she reacted out of anger…she considered it an insult." She swallowed, taking another few moments to supress the ache in her chest.

She quickly returned the clothes to the washing basket and ran back to her room. Approaching her desk, she was relieved to find her phone on it. ' _I need to get their side of what happened. Maybe it'll help me figure out what the hell is going on_.' Opening her contacts list, Yoko paused, blinking hard.

Yuma's phone number was missing.

She stared at her phone for a moment. "How…" She opened her texts, looking at the history. Her text to Katase from Saturday was there, when she confirmed that they were still on for their date. But instead of the next one in line being her text to Yuma on Friday, instead it was a text to the girl she went out with the week before.

Yoko didn't have many friends. In fact, the number of friends she had could be totalled at a whopping zero. This being the case, she had very little need to text at all. The only times she texted was to confirm things with her dates. Both Yuma's phone number and their text history being missing wasn't too unusual. Usually after dating a girl once, Yoko would delete the number from her phone as it no longer had any use to her. The history disappearing with the number was a feature of her phone.

However, just in case, Yoko always waited two weeks before deleting any numbers. In some cases, the girls kept trying to contact her despite being let down gently. They would try and break through to her, to be the one to heal all her pain and go steady with her. Yoko sneered at the idea of it all, but she wanted to know who was calling on the occasions it happened. Those kinds of girls tended to introduce you to their friend Mr Kitchen Knife if you forget their name when they call. Most would give up in a week, and she would work her charm on the stubborn ones, convincing them to move on by the end of the second.

Having been less than 24 hours since the date, there was no chance that Yoko had deleted it. Unless, of course, she did it in the hypothetical black-out, but if Yoko had to pick between that possibility and her own memories, she's trust the latter any day.

Pushing back the creeping unease, she went back and rang Kimura's phone. After several seconds of tense waiting, he finally picked up. "Kimura, listen, about yester—"

"Why'd you do it, Banchou?" A defeated tone of voice came through the phone.

"—day, what?" Yoko paused, frowning into space. "What are you talking about?"

"Why'd you do that to us? We've been nothing but loyal to you, Banchou."

"Kimura, what are you talking about?"

"You're going to pretend nothing happened?" Defeat was being replaced by anger. "You're going to act like you didn't beat the shit out of us for no reason?"

"…What?" For the nth time that morning, Yoko faltered. "Look, we've already been over what happened on Saturday—"

"This isn't about that! I'm talking about yesterday!" Kimura yelled. Yoko pulled the phone away from her ear, but could still hear him say, "After we stuck by you when Yamada wanted us to leave, after we said we'd stay loyal to you, why'd you beat us up!?"

"How hard did she hit you? That wasn't me that was—"

"Unless you've got an identical twin that you ain't mentioned, then that's a load of shit! When we got to the fountain, you arrived after us and just started attacking us for no reason! You nearly broke my hand!"

"…" Yoko was lost for words. "I…but that was…"

"Yamada was right about you, Banchou. You don't give a shit about us, we're just your lapdogs." The anger was gone, and the defeat returned, joined with disappointment. "Me and the boys…we've decided that we're done helping you, like Yamada did. We won't tell the police or nothing about yesterday, but don't bother calling us anymore."

Yoko said nothing; couldn't say anything at all.

"Some of the best times of my life, running with you Banchou. But Yamada's right, we can't spend the rest of our lives making you look good anymore. Goodbye Yoko-Ban—no, goodbye, Yoko-san."

Kimura hung up.

Yoko dropped her phone back on the desk. Her wide eyes stared ahead, unseeing. She stood like that for a few minutes, before putting a hand on her head. "What the fuck is going on? How did they mix up Yuma and me? Did…Was it me, who beat them up? Was there ever even a Yuma?" Yoko collapsed into her chair, head in her hands. "I…Am I losing it?"

"Yoko?" Her bedroom door opened, and Yoko shot upright, staring as her father poked his head in. "Wh-Why are you sitting at your desk topless!?" Yoko flinched, and grabbed the shirt from the bed, putting it on as Tamaki looked away awkwardly. "Why aren't you ready for school?" Her looked back at her face and frowned. "Are you alright? You look exhausted."

"…Otou-san, what are you doing here?"

"I got a day off today." He said, still frowning. "Are you sick? Your eyes and face are all red."

Yoko stared at him, and realised how pitiful she must look. She looked away, muttering, "When did you get so good at noticing stuff?" She hugged her torso, staring at the floor.

Tamaki sighed and walked over to her. Putting his hand on her forehead he hummed. "Well, you don't seem to have a fever."

She smacked his hand away, glaring at him. "Since when did you give a shit, anyway?"

Tamaki winced, but frowned straight after. "I've always cared about you, Yoko, even if you don't always return the favour."

"Whatever." She looked away again, turning her chair away from him slightly.

Her father sighed and walked to the door. "I'll call the academy and tell them you won't be going in today."

"What, why?"

"Because even if you're not sick, you clearly haven't slept well at all. If you had, you wouldn't be so expressive." With a sardonic smile he left the room. "I'm sure you don't want to go to school in such a state." He closed the door behind him, and Yoko listened as he walked down the stairs.

Yoko scowled and stood up. As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. All the time she spent crafting her image would be wasted if she snapped at someone as easily as just then. She looked at her phone laying on the desk, narrowing her eyes. Picking it up, she watched as it ran out of power and shut off. She let out an aggravated sigh and went to put it on charge.

' _More evidence—I charge it every night._ '

That done, Yoko looked up, and paused. She hadn't realised it until just then, but her curtains were closed yet she could see just fine. Which was odd, considering she had black-out curtains. Eyes could adjust to darkness, sure, but this was ridiculous. She could see as well as if she had the curtains open.

Moving to the curtains, she opened them.

"GAH! Instant regret!"

It was as if Amaterasu herself had reached down and poked her in the eyes. Yoko rolled away from the window, covering her eyes and trying to rub the spots out of her vision. After about a minute she succeeded in blinking away the smudges.

"Probably not your best idea, Ikawazu." Yoko said, squinting at the floor. After stepping back in front of the window, a weight settled itself on Yoko's shoulders, and she felt like she had swum three laps in a second. The warm embrace of the sun had turned into an overwhelming grasp, and she didn't hesitate in shutting the curtains. With the darkness restored the weakness left her body.

"Seriously, _what the fuck is going on?_ " She stood there, still gripping the curtains, trying to keep her breathing steady. "I…I must be ill or something. Bad night sleep…as if! I'd bet my left tit that this is connected to why I'm not dead. Don't know how, but it wouldn't shock me at this point."

She fell back on her bed, head hitting the pillow. If she was going to be off "sick" then she might as well play the part. If anything, she'd get enough rest to keep her emotions under control tomorrow. And if part of her just wanted to stay in bed all day mopi—thinking—about her situation, then damn their eyes if anyone had anything to say about it.

* * *

Yoko was in a café, having a cup of tea with a girl. Katase took a sip, and morphed into Murayama who then threw her cup at Yoko. The scalding hot tea was cold, and it clung to Yoko's top. The sound of rushing water made her realise that she was standing next to a fountain. The steaming tea on her shirt felt sticky and gave off a coppery smell. Putting a hand to her top, it came away sticky and red. Long, red strands connected her hand to the fountain, and she followed them to the source. A voluptuous figure was already in the process of morphing, the hair connecting it to Yoko's hand turning black.

Yuma sneered and held aloft a spear of light. The strands on Yoko's hand wrapped around her entire body, holding her in place. Yuma threw the spear and it pierced Yoko's chest. A flash, and Matsuda's camera printed out a picture of the scene, while a pair of floating glasses nodded as it looked it over. Yoko fell back into the fountain, going deeper and deeper until the setting sun was but a distant blur. The strands washed away, and the hole in Yoko's chest closed.

For a while, Yoko just floated in darkness. Before long, however, two green eyes opened, piercing into Yoko's own.

[ **Not long now, partner** ]

* * *

For the second time that day, Yoko woke with a gasp.

"That…that was _definitely_ a dream." Yoko said, rubbing the sand from her eyes. Feeling refreshed, she pulled herself out of bed to look at her clock. Her eyes widened when she saw the time. "…No wonder I feel so good. I've slept all day!" Going over to her curtains, she opened them up. Sure enough, the sun had set and the moon had taken its place.

Yoko always liked the moon, having always felt a sense of comfort looking up at it. Even if its appearance changed every night, its presence was a constant in life. But the feeling coursing through her was more than she'd ever felt before. Unlike that morning, Yoko felt like she could run a triathlon and not break a sweat. She opened the window, letting the cool air wash over her face. She stood there, basking in the night, staring at the moon.

"—n't know why I even bother!"

' _Huh?_ ' Yoko blinked. She could have sworn that she'd just heard her neighbour, Mr Kondo. Which was impossible, considering he lived three houses down, and there wasn't a person in sight on the street.

"Neither do I, you bastard!"

Yoko poked her head out the window, trying to get a look at the Kondo household. "That's was definitely Mrs Kondo." She muttered. Despite it being pitch black, she could easily see the shadows of figures moving behind a curtain. Three houses away.

"I work all day and what do I find when I get home? You, sitting on your ass instead of having my dinner ready.!"

"Excuse me if I have better things to do than stand around barefoot in the kitchen!"

"What, like talking to your mother on the phone all day?"

"Don't bring my mother into this!"

"…What the hell?" Yoko pulled her head back in and shut her window. The voices became muffled, but she could still hear the noise they were making. "This just keeps getting weirder." Yoko's heart raced, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. "What's happening to my body?" Her foot started tapping, a rising feeling in her gut forming. "Tch, all this excess energy is starting to piss me off, too."

She heard feet hitting the steps in the house, and she waited in place until they reached her door. Her father poked his head in, and gave her a once over. "You look better." He said.

"…I suppose."

"You must be starving."

"I guess."

"Well, erm." He looked to the side, scratching the back of his head. "I'm going to order some food in. Do you want anything?"

Yoko opened her mouth to decline, but the growling of her stomach cut her off. Brow twitching, she nodded. "Ramen."

"Right, I'll just…" He mimed a phone with his hand and left. Yoko listened as he walked down stairs, and even heard him talk to the delivery place on the phone.

Yoko huffed. "I hope this hearing thing isn't permanent."

"Ahh~!" As if to spite her, a moan came through the wall.

"Yeah, you like that?"

"Mmm, fuck me!"

"Take it, you dirty bitch!"

"Ahhhh~!"

Yoko went green. Apparently, despite being in their late 60s, the Satonakas next door still had an active sex life. "…Might want to invest in some headphones…and some mind bleach."

"Ahh, fuck me! Harder!"

"...At least it should be over soon. How long can a couple of old farts go on for, anyway?"

* * *

Yoko trudged through the school gate while yawning into her hand, dark bags under her eyes. "Who'd have thought old man Satonaka could keep it up for five hours straight? I'm simultaneously disgusted and impressed." Yoko had spent until the early hours of the morning pressing her pillow into her ears, learning entirely too much about her elderly neighbour's sex life in the process. "So much for the rest I got yesterday."

"Yoko-san!"

"Yoko-san's back!"

"I heard she got a cold!"

"I heard she got cancer and lost all her hair!"

"Gasp! So, is that a wig?"

' _Don't believe that shit so easily!'_ Yoko barely managed to keep the shout mental, her brow twitching heavily. _'Who comes up with this garbage? And what's up with that sudden escalation!? Don't be so eager to kill me off, you bitch!_ '

"Yoko-saaaaaaan! Are you dying!?" One of the girls cried as she walked past. Yoko recognised her as one of the girls she dated last year.

"N-No, really, it was just a small cold." Yoko managed to hide her exasperation behind a twitching smile. "I'm feeling much better today."

"Are you sure? You look tired." The girl's friend said, looking concerned.

"I assure you, I'm fine." Yoko said, her voice strained. "Well, have a good day." She hurried on forward, ignoring their goodbyes. ' _This is not the kind of attention I enjoy! Seriously, I miss one day of school and people are already writing my eulogy!_ '

She made it to her homeroom with little trouble after that. Several students along the way inquired about her health, but she brushed them off with a quick explanation and kept on walking. Upon reaching the room, she noticed Katase and Murayama talking at their seats. Katase was blushing and looking off to the side, while Murayama just looked confused and concerned. Katase, noticing Yoko, perked up. Murayama had the opposite reaction, and gave Yoko a sour look.

Yoko nodded at the pair and took her seat. Katase made to stand up, but the rest of their class came in, their homeroom teacher right behind them. Katase sat back down, looking sullen, again causing Murayama some concern.

' _Urgh, got to deal with that later_. _Oh, yeah, that's right, glare over here, Murayama_. _Totally my fault that you didn't have the ovaries to ask Katase out before I did. Mm-hm. Yeah, that's right, you stop before Katase notices you. Don't want her to know what a possessive harpy you really are._ '

Yoko yawned, rubbing an eye with her fist. ' _Need to keep a lid on the bitchiness. Get bitchy when I'm tired. I SHOULD have gotten enough rest to keep it under control, but apparently Mr Satonaka was a rabbit in a previous life._ '

"Ah, Ikawazu-kun, I see that you're feeling better today." Their homeroom teacher said. He was an older man, with hair thinning in its age. "I'm glad that it wasn't anything serious."

The students muttered among themselves, but Yoko ignored their drivel. "No, nothing serious, just a cold."

"Good, good! Wouldn't want anything to happen to one of our top students, after all."

"Thank you for your concern." ' _Heh, concern, yeah right_. _He acts like he's concerned about me, but having a student like me in his homeroom makes him look better by proxy._ _That's life for you; bunch of shitty people, pretending they're good people, to get what they want._ ' Yoko barely held in her sneer.

Yoko's bad mood persisted throughout the day. If anything, it got worse as time went on. Various people came up to express their concerns over lunch, digging for that next juicy piece of gossip to spread around. Yoko's persona chaffed more than it ever had before, and she got more irritated the longer she had to maintain it. Over a year of cultivating a friendly and helpful image began to backfire on her, leaving her unable to tell them all to fuck off and leave her alone.

* * *

The crowd of students around her at lunch made it impossible for Katase to speak with Yoko. Murayama watched as her friend got more and more disheartened each time she made to go over, only for someone else to start talking to Yoko.

"What happened on that date?" Murayama asked for the umpteenth time. Katase had refused to share any details about it; not that Murayama _wanted_ to hear them, but she was concerned for her friend. Maybe a little jealous, too, but mostly concerned. Ever since that Saturday afternoon, Katase hadn't been able to look at her for more than a few seconds. It made the last couple of days rather awkward. "You've been acting weird since then. Did she do anything to you?"

"No!" Katase shouted, looking the most animated she had been for days. A few people glanced over, but were far more interested in Yoko and soon turned away. "No." She repeated, much quieter. "Yoko-san was wonderful. I just…need to talk to her about something." She blushed and looked away again.

"…" Murayama said nothing, not knowing what to say, and not really wanting to say anything either. Instead she stared over at Yoko, watching the slightly older girl talk. Yoko said something, causing the girl speaking to her to blush. Murayama felt annoyance rise in her chest. "What is it about her that no one ever wants to talk about? Every girl she's dated has said nothing about it, and now you're doing it too."

"…" Katase frowned a little, looking like she was remembering something, but she soon shook it off. "Does it matter? Yoko-san is a good person, and obviously we've all seen that. Plus, it's no one else's business what happened on our dates with Yoko-san."

"Fine." Murayama said, huffing, and this time it was her turn to look away. She glared at Yoko from the corner of her eyes. Through the rest of the day, Murayama kept shooting Yoko angry stares, unable to stop herself. She at least kept Katase from noticing them, but it was surprisingly hard at times. She didn't remember Katase ever glancing at her that often. Any other day she would welcome it, but for once she wished her friend would pay her _less_ attention.

By the time classes ended, Katase was practically vibrating in her seat. As soon as the teacher left, she stood up to go over to talk to Yoko. However, Yoko had started to move when the teacher did, so she was already leaving from the other door. Katase wilted, falling back into her seat.

Murayama took one look at her friend before standing up and storming off after Yoko.

* * *

' _Finally, this has been one of the longest days of my life._ ' Yoko huffed as she walked down the hallway. She intended to go straight home and get her evening routine out the way before going back to bed. And maybe pick up some ear plugs or something on the way home; she wanted to be prepared in case the old folks decided to get frisky again.

She absently realised that her enhanced hearing hadn't been bothering her at all, but the trade-off was feeling like shit under the sunlight. The piercing rays of the sun made her eager to get home and shut her curtains. It was a big part of her bad mood, next to the lack of sleep.

She reached the shoe lockers by the school's entrance, pleased to see the lack of students milling about. At this time of day, most students would be going to their club meetings, so she wouldn't be accosted by sycophants.

"Oi, Ikawazu!"

Of course, she could just be accosted by angry females instead. Now wasn't that a first? Turning around, she battled to keep her expression pleasant. Her brow rose when she saw Murayama stomp on over to her.

"Is there something I can help you with, Murayama-san?" ' _Fuck off, fuck off, fuck off, fuck off, fuck off, fuck o-_ '

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Murayama said, stopping in front of Yoko and placing her hands on her hips. "Katase has been waiting since yesterday to talk to you, and you can't even stick around after school to speak with her?"

Yoko blinked. She instinctively looked around, seeing if anyone could overhear them. "Katase-chan has?" ' _Urgh, I forgot, I meant to talk to her at lunch, but those morons surrounded me the whole time.'_

"You don't even remember?" Murayama growled. "The one thing I managed to get out of her about Saturday was that you agreed to talk to her on Monday, but you don't even remember it?"

"Yes, well, I am still quite tired from being ill, yesterday. It must have slipped my mind."

"You moved pretty fast for someone who isn't feeling very well."

"I simply wished to get home as soon as I could."

"You're not going anywhere until you talk to Katase!"

"Oh? And are you going to be the one stopping me?"

"If I have to."

' _This bitch_.' Yoko felt her brow twitch. ' _I'd like to see he try_.' Yoko turned around and moved towards the lockers.

"Stop right there!" Murayama hissed and grabbed Yoko's arm.

Yoko's eyes flashed and she whipped around to face Murayama. ' _Oh no you didn't you-_ '

"What exactly is going on here?" A commanding voice rang out. Yoko's arm stopped before it could begin moving towards Murayama. Both girls span around to see Shitori Souna walking down the staircase opposite the entrance.

' _Great, just what I needed_.' Yoko thought, a sour face slipping through the cracks of her mask for an instant. _'Then again, maybe it is_.' "My apologies, Kaichou, but Murayama-san was being a touch aggressive in getting my attention."

Murayama turned to her, a scandalised expression twisting her face. "What!? You—"

"I don't care who was doing what. I won't stand for any sort of violent misconduct in this school." Souna said, speaking over Murayama with ease. "I suggest the two of you shake hands and walk away, before I see a reason to punish you both." Her narrow-eyed glare told them this wasn't a suggestion nor an idle threat.

Yoko and Murayama gave each other nasty looks, before reluctantly grabbing each other's hands. Yoko took the opportunity to lean closer to Murayama, who stiffened at the action. "Just ask Katase out already, damn it." She said in a whisper, watching Murayama's eyes widen and cheeks flush. "The whole jealousy thing really isn't attractive."

"W-Wha—"

"Just do it. That way Katase stops moping, you can stop being jealous, and I can go home and sleep. Everybody wins." She let go of Murayama' hand and stepped back. "See you around, Murayama-san."

Murayama gave a mechanical nod and walked off in the direction of the kendo clubroom. Once she left, Souna turned her harsh gaze on Yoko.

"What were you thinking, going to strike Murayama-san like that? You could have done some serious damage."

Yoko barely managed to keep from rolling her eyes. "I wasn't going to hit her, Kaichou. And even if I did, it wouldn't have hurt her at all."

Souna raised a brow. "And you're already so good at controlling your newfound strength that you can judge that, are you?"

Yoko's eyes widened. "Huh? Wh…What are you talking about?"

Souna sighed, a faint look of exasperation crossing her face. "Honestly, Rias needs to be stricter with her pieces at times." She muttered, shaking her head.

Yoko's confusion only increased. "What the hell does Gremory have to do with anything? What do you mean pieces? Newfound strength?" Yoko paused, gasping a little. "Do you know why my hearing has gotten better at night, too? _How_ could you even know about that?"

Souna's frown grew the longer Yoko spoke. She looked a little lost, but then understanding crossed her face. Followed by exasperation. Then annoyance. "Damn it, Rias." She said under her breath. Her glasses caught the light, hiding her eyes.

"Do you know what the hell has been going on with me lately, Kaichou?" Yoko said, taking a step forward. "And what does Gremory have to do with it?"

Souna sighed, and adjusted her glasses so the glare left them. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions, Ikawazu-san." She walked passed Yoko and moved towards the lockers. Waving her arm, she looked back at Yoko. "Get your shoes, and follow me. All the answers you seek will be granted."

Yoko swallowed, staring at the President with a steady gaze. She wanted to demand the answers there and then, but she refrained. "Fine." She followed Sona, staring at the slightly smaller girls back. ' _As much as I hate to follow her orders, I want my answers before I go insane._ '

And so, Yoko followed Souna out of the building, towards a conversation that would change her life.

* * *

 **Well, what do you guys think? Good chapter, bad chapter? Either way, please let me know, so I can improve in the future.**

 **Now, to address reivews!**

 **Raiyoukai: Thank you! I know what you mean about the first few chapters, but I felt that they were vital set up for chapter three and beyond. Glad you stuck with me long enough for chapter 3 :) Wow, thanks for the compliment, I'm glad I was able to write the date well (and that you enjoy Yoko's bitchiness XD). Yeah, I have to agree that Ishibumi didn't do a great job of making it seem like Issei was in love with "Yuma", but realistic relationships aren't Ishibumi's strong suit. I see what you mean about Yoko's bits being clunky. I like to think I've improved on that in this chapter, but if I haven't please tell me and I'll work harder on it in the future. Yeah, harem lists are lame. And oh yes, the missing memories certainly haven't done Yoko any favours lol.**

 **DschingisKhan: Wow, you certainly picked up on that nicely huh. Either I'm getting better at portraying stuff, or my writing is too obvious lol. I'm certainly looking forward to developing Yoko's relationship with Koneko. I figured she'd be the likeliest of the group to connect to Yoko.**

 **Blake Valentine II: Thanks! I'd love to update more frequently, but I don't want to sacrifice whatever quality I can squeeze out by rushing lol.**

 **Belgianreader: Cheers! Glad you like Yoko. I like to think she's a complex character, but whether I can portray that well in the future is up in the air. I'll certainly do my best to write her well.**

 **Shirou Fujimura: Once again, thanks a lot for the talks. They really helped me a lot in the future planning of this story. This story would have ended up being a lot worse without those talks, so thanks again for them. Can't express how much you've helped me out, man :)**

 **NearbyChunk310: Thanks again for the review. I love unlikeable characters, so the chance to write one has been a whole lot of fun.**

 **Ok, that's all for the Review Corner. Hope to hear from you guys again. Until next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**(WARNING! BEFORE THE CHAPTER IS A VERY LENGTHY AUTHOR'S NOTE! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ, FEEL FREE TO SCROLL DOWN UNTIL THE BOLD LETTERS GO AWAY!)**

 **Super sorry for the delay. Two reasons for it: 1, I got a Nintendo Switch for my birthday, and got very very distracted by it, and 2, I was reading more of the light novels to get a better understanding of the source material. When I finished the last chapter, I was on volume 5, and now I'm halfway through volume 9. I'm glad I did that, because I've learned some things that have really helped me solidify some of the ideas I had planned. With my new knowledge, I am even happier with the plans I've laid out for Yoko and this story.**

 **Another thing I want to address is that people seem to think that Rias left Yoko in the dark out of malice. Not the case. As Hanlon's razor states: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity".  
Remember, she left Issei alone for what's implied to be days, and only when he was attacked by Dohnaseek did she appear before him. Since Issei is a few planks short of a raft, he didn't really put anything together. Sure, he noticed changes in his body, but he wasn't very active in figuring it out. Yoko, however, is so obsessed to sticking to a schedule that the disruption of it, combined with the strange changes to her body, sent her into such a tizzy that she had to take a whole day to regain her composure. If she hadn't had that confrontation with Murayama, and Sona hadn't stumbled across it, then Yoko could have spent days agonising over everything, slowly going mad over it. Yoko was lucky that Sona came across her when she did.**

 **Rias leaving Issei alone has always been one of the biggest "wtf bitch" moves that she's made, to me. Like, you leave this guy who now, essentially, has super strength and speed, and don't expect something terrible to happen? What if he got into a fight and accidentally caved someone's face in? Or what if he was running across a road, and tripped thanks to his shock over his speed, and got run over, or something. All sorts of terrible things could have happened while Issei was left alone to his devices. But Rias, in her infinite "wisdom", felt it best to leave him alone.**

 **On the matter, what the hell was she thinking, showing Issei a photo of Raynare? Hell, in the anime she had a picture of them together! Anyone with a brain could tell from that that Rias had someone following Issei, doing surveillance on him. It's a good job that Issei is both too stupid to put it together, and too distracted with dreams of having a harem. A lot of Rias' plans are stupid, and she's also pretty stupid. Sure, Rias probably didn't help Issei out because of the chance for causing strife with the Fallen, in case they were acting on orders, but she never says that to Issei! It just makes her come across as a calculating bitch who knew he was going to die and decided to use his death to her advantage.**

 **Another example of Rias' stupidity? Her Rating Game with Sona. She knew, and it was expressly stated, that Sona knew all of their strengths and weaknesses. Yet she didn't expect that Sona would capitalise on one of the biggest and easiest weaknesses to exploit within the Gremory group—Gasper's weakness to garlic! Gasper was taken out straight away, because Sona was in the side of the shopping mall with the fucking grocery store that, hmm, what do you know, has fucking garlic in it! For fucks sake, she's acknowledged that Sona was better at strategy than her, yet she expected that merely doing the opposite of what she thinks Sona would expect them to do would work? Chess involves thinking several steps ahead, and from what I've seen of Sona, she's like Shikamaru Nara in that she can plan quite a few steps ahead. Rias would have been demolished if Issei hadn't done as Issei does best and came up with a stupid yet amazingly useful spell thanks to his obsession with tits.**

 **However, despite all of this, I will be doing my best to be fair to Rias. I won't be bashing her, just showing that she's a flawed character who is far from being perfect. It makes her realistic, if not quite a bit thick (in more ways than one ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)). Rias isn't my favourite character—far from it (Azazel holds that position atm)—but I make it a point to try and not bash characters. Even if a character has flaws and I don't like them, I try to be fair to their original, true characterisation, to an extent at least. Good protagonists have flaws that get ironed out as the series goes on. I'm not entirely sure what Rias is like later on in the series, but I'll assume the best and she improves. Rias does have some flaws that have been pointed out by her mother and Grayfia, so whether or not she improves on them is, for me, left to be seen.**

 **Ahem, sorry about that. Got a little carried away.**

 **Finally, sorry if this chapter seems a little all-over-the-place. This story is largely an experiment on third person POV and what can be achieved with it. When the POV is centered on Yoko, I am trying my best to have it reflect her state of mind at the time. Until last chapter, the POV has been a bit more ambiguous, but it will focus on Yoko a lot more now, get into her head more. I wanted to give an outsider look at Yoko before getting into her head. Hopefully, I've managed to do that on some level. Another reason this took a while was because I didn't want to rush it.**

 **Still, tell me if this chapter is confusing and/or jumbled and I shall endeavour to improve on it. But for now, I hope you enjoy this (very late) chapter.**

* * *

Rias Gremory expected a lot of things out of life. She expected to become the next head of the Gremory family, doing her parents and the clan proud. She expected to dominate the Rating Games, once she was old enough to participate, and become number one. She expected her Queen to be by her side, occasionally making lewd comments and teasing her, but still being ever supportive. She expected her Rook to eat her own weight in sugar on a daily basis, and for her Knight to step up to defend her at a moment's notice. She expected her brother to do everything he can to embarrass her, and for his wife to discipline him and remind him of his station. She even expected a certain fire bird to do his absolute best to earn the Biggest Douchebag of the Year award, several millennia in a row.

What she hadn't expected was her childhood friend storming into her clubroom, dragging her new Pawn along with her.

"What were you thinking, Rias?" Sona said, crossing her arms and glaring over her glasses.

"Tea, Kaichou?" Akeno said, raising the tea pot with a smile. Rias often envied her Queen's unflappable nature. When Sona shook her head, Akeno turned to Yoko. "How about you, Ikawazu-san?"

Ikawazu Yoko blinked rapidly. "Er…sure?"

As Akeno led Yoko to one of the sofas, Rias turned her gaze to Sona. "What do you mean, Sona?" She sent a quick glance at Yoko, who was staring at her cup as if it was going to bite her. "We've discussed this…Besides, I should ask you what you're thinking, dragging my servant in here like this."

Yoko did a spit-take with her tea. "S-Servant!?"

"Ara, would you like a napkin, Ikawazu-san?"

"Huh? Er, yes, thanks."

"That is why." Sona said, nodding at Yoko, who was trying her best to dab up the tea she spat on her trousers. "Would you like to explain to me why I found your servant wandering around without the faintest clue about her new condition?"

"Now hang on, you keep saying servant—"

"Ara, you missed a spot, Ikawazu-san."

"Wh—shit!" Yoko started dabbing her shirt with the napkin.

"I wanted her to get used to the changes in her body before bringing her here." Rias said, feeling like she was being interrogated. The narrow-eyed glare her friend was sending her said that might be the case.

"Yuuto-kun, would you bring Ikawazu-san another napkin?"

"Of course, Akeno-san."

"Shit, this is gonna stain!"

"…" Sona looked like she was trying to wrap her mind around it all. "You…left a Reincarnated Devil alone, with no explanation about the changes to her body? No explanation about her new senses, or aversion to sunlight, or even about her physical capabilities?" She shook her head, slowly, thinking it through. "Didn't you cover this before you reincarnated her?"

"Oi, you keep saying weird stuff like reincarnated—"

"Here's your napkin, Ikawazu-san."

"Oh, thanks. Shit, that tea was hot! Why am I just reali—fuck!"

"Well…it never came up." Rias said, feeling defensive.

"How does something like this not come up? Surely you told her what she was getting into."

"…"

"Rias."

"What does it matter to you how I deal with my new servant? I can handle this situation however I please."

"What would you have done if she did something with her new strength by accident? I saw her about to hit one of her classmates. Ikawazu could have seriously injured her without even meaning to. And that's if she's lucky."

"Look, I already said I wasn't going to—"

"More tea, Ikawazu-san?"

"I figured she would be weirded out if I just approached her out of the blue and told her all that," Rias explained. "I wanted her to slowly come to terms with her new body first, so it wouldn't be too much at once."

"No, I don't wan—"

"A scone, maybe?"

"You're dodging the question, Rias." Sona pushed her glasses up, glaring through them. "Why would she need to adjust before you told her anything? Surely you told her what would happen when she became a devil."

"No, look, I—"

"Maybe some lemon water?"

"I told you it didn't come up." Rias said, her brow starting to twitch. "It's none of your business, anyway."

"She may be your servant now, Rias, but she's also a member of this school. Her wellbeing is my concern."

"Well—"

"How about—"

"WOULD EVERYONE JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!?"

Silence.

Rias paused with her mouth open, Sona raised a brow, Akeno covered her mouth and tilted her head, Kiba looked like a deer in headlights, and Koneko stopped halfway through eating a large melon bread. They turned to look at Yoko, who had shot to her feet and was glaring at everyone in the room.

Yoko, used to attention, didn't break a sweat. "I was brought here because I was told I could get some answers. Answers to questions like, 'How come I woke up in my bed, without a scratch on me, cleaned up and redressed'? Or, 'Why the hell did my date sprout wings and shank me', and 'Why, oh why, did I hear my sexagenarian neighbours' disturbingly kinky intercourse for six hours straight last night, as if I was in the same room as them'!? I go to the same grocery store as Satanaka-san, for fucks sake! How can I look that sweet, old lady in the eye when we run into each other buying groceries, without having the mental image of her being thoroughly pounded by her husbands—apparently—humongous, wrinkly meat stick!?"

Everyone stared.

Yoko panted, glaring around the room with a wild look in her eyes. "Somebody better answer those questions, and more, or I'll…I'll…" she looked down at the table and picked up her cup, "or I'll break this nice, very expensive looking tea cup! And I'll do it across pretty boy's face if he doesn't stop approaching me like I'm some kind of raving maniac that he needs to calm down!"

Kiba paused in place, having been slowly approaching her from behind with his hands raised. He sweat dropped at the threat, and took two steps back, lowering his arms.

"…Ok, Ikawazu-san," Rias said, slowly, as if she was indeed addressing a raving maniac who needed calming down, "just put…" she sweat dropped, "put the teacup down, and we'll explain everything."

Yoko glared into her eyes for a long moment, before putting the cup down, and falling back on the sofa with a thud, "I'm keeping it within arm's reach."

"That's…fine…"

"And tell pretty boy to stop looming over my shoulder."

"Yuuto, could you come over here, please."

"Of course, Buchou."

As Kiba did that, Sona turned around. "I'll leave the explanations to you, Rias. After all, it is your responsibility."

"Yeah, see, that leads into my first question," Yoko said, ignoring Sona leaving now she'd got what she wanted from the Kaichou. "What the hell do you have to do with what's going on?"

Rias sighed. "Akeno, could you prepare another pot? This will take a while."

* * *

Despite Yoko's demands to get answers straight away, Gremory had insisted on waiting until the tea was ready before giving any. Now, Yoko liked tea as much as anyone—and Himejima's tea had been, from what she could tell before she'd spat it all over herself, very good—but the burning desire to know what the fuck was going on made her a touch impatient. That, and the burning pain beneath her damp trousers wasn't doing her mood any favours.

However, after a couple of minutes of waiting, Yoko started to calm down a little. With her oncoming calmness came a sharp embarrassment that she had acted so ridiculously. It didn't make her any less impatient, but the returned sense of self-awareness made her batter the feeling into submission.

She didn't regret demanding answers—the last 48 hours had left her wanting for many of them—but she wished she had been a bit more…subtle about it. She also cursed herself for dropping her mask so readily, letting a group of strangers see that she wasn't in control of a situation. They now had power over her, power that Gremory had obviously—to Yoko anyway—exerted by making Yoko wait until Gremory herself was ready to give Yoko answers.

It was like the date with Yuma all over again, and Yoko refused to let that red-headed foreigner gain any more ground in this battle of wills.

Picking up the cup again—feeling a twinge of amusement at the wary glance from Kiba—she drained what was left of the tea. Yoko stared down at the cup. Somehow, Himejima had managed to distract her from the conversation between Gremory and Shitori and got her to sit down while the two talked. Every time she tried to interject, Himejima managed to divert her attention each time, and it wasn't until Yoko had calmed down that she realised it. It was a flawless display of misdirection and manipulation, and it put Yoko on edge.

She refused to let herself get pulled into their pace again. Fortunately, her outburst had managed to pull the momentum on her side, enough that she could get a word in and demand her answers. But while the wait had calmed Yoko down, she knew the same could be said for them. Whatever happened next, Yoko knew that her composure had to be staunch, impregnable. She couldn't let Gremory or her cohorts get a leg up over her again.

"Would you like a refill, Ikawazu-san?"

Yoko snapped out of her musings. She looked up to see Himejima standing to the side of the sofa, teapot in hand. Yoko briefly considered whether or not she would be losing or gaining ground by accepting. That lasted for a moment, before she realised that in the end, it was just a cup of tea, and probably didn't matter all that much. She shrugged, putting the cup on the table and waving towards it. "Sure."

After pouring the tea, Himejima went around to the other members of the Occult Research club and filled their cups too. Starting with Gremory, then Kiba, Toujou, and finally herself. Toujou ignored hers in favour of devouring the giant melon-flavoured bread in her hands, bite by tiny bite. Complete with cute little "om" noises. Kiba, after thanking Himejima, took a dainty little sip from his, as if he was from a shojou manga. Himejima sat next to Yoko and brought her cup up to blow on it. Finally, Gremory took a sip from her own, _almost_ as daintily as Kiba.

Yoko decided to follow suit, and she was almost blown away with how good the tea was. This time she didn't spit it out in surprise, so she got the chance to truly savour the mouthful. Turns out, Himejima was better at making tea than even the most expensive café that Yoko had ever visited.

"So, Ikawazu-san," Gremory started, snapping Yoko out of her reluctant enthrallment with Himejima's tea, "before I can answer your questions, I need to tell you a story."

Yoko frowned. She was about to demand why, but she then noticed the looks she was getting. Gremory especially was giving her a…she wouldn't call it a wary expression, but it was at least expectant. She realised then that they were expecting her to get angry again, and to demand her answers there and then. Yoko assumed that Gremory said that, expecting the response, and had her own response ready to gain ground on Yoko again.

Whoever controlled the conversation had the advantage. By making Yoko come across as unreasonable, Gremory would have grounds for treating her as such, controlling the flow of conversation to make herself come across as reasonable. The basics of winning an argument with an unreasonable person was to remain perfectly reasonable. As person A yells and gets angry, person B stays calm and on topic.

By trying to provoke Yoko into acting irrational and unreasonable, Gremory would win the argument by acting the opposite. Doing so would mean that Yoko getting the answers she wanted would be unlikely. Gremory could easily deny answering any questions Yoko might have. She could, potentially, claim that she was unwilling to deal with Yoko unless she was calm. Telling an angry person to calm down tends to have the opposite effect. If Yoko became angry and unreasonable enough, Gremory could demand that she leave her clubroom.

Just because Gremory said she would answer Yoko's questions, it didn't mean she wanted to.

Yoko wasn't going to give them the satisfaction. She might be dead tired, with enough pent up expectant energy to power the academy three times over, but she was damned if such amateur manipulation was going to get the best of her.

"Alright, I've waited this long, I suppose I can wait a little longer."

Yoko felt smug, but it turned to confusion when Gremory…relaxed. Instead of looking upset or annoyed that her machinations were seen through, the foreigner looked relieved.

' _Is this another attempt at throwing me off guard?_ ' Yoko stiffened as a thought came to her. ' _Did…Did she predict that I would see through her, and had a response prepared? Is she one step ahead of me_?'

Yoko's eyelid twitched.

"Well, I suppose I should start from the top," Gremory said, clearing her throat with a prim cough. "Everyone in this room, are Devils."

Yoko stared.

"We, the Devils, have been at war with beings known as Fallen Angels since ancient times. We have been fighting for possession of the Underworld, otherwise known to humans as Hell. The Underworld is split into two areas, one for Devils and one for Fallen Angels. The Devils form pacts with humans and receive sacrifices to increase their strength. The Fallen Angels, on the other hand, control humans to eliminate Devils. Then the third group, the Angels, come in to destroy both races on God's orders. Again, this three-way struggle has persisted since ancient times."

"…I didn't realise that the Occult Research club also doubled as the Creative Writing club. Or is this just stuff you've read on Wikipedia in your spare time?" Yoko raised her eyebrows. "Is this all you do in this club? Tell wild stories? Where's the campfire?" She scoffed.

"The Occult Research club is mostly a front. It's my hobby. In truth, as well as being a place for research, the club serves as a gathering place for us Devils."

Yoko narrowed her eyes. She _did_ hear Shitori mention Devils in her argument with Gremory. While she could believe Gremory taking part in such flights of fancy, she couldn't see the straight-laced, uptight Shitori Souna roleplaying as a Devil in her spare time.

"What about Kaichou? Is she a Devil too? Or was she just humouring your delusions?" She then remembered something else Shitori said. "And what did she mean by Reincarnated Devil? Is that what you call new members in your little Dungeons and Dragons campaign? If so you can count me out; I have better things to do than sit around and roll dice and play with figurines."

Yoko may have snarked, but she was doing so to buy herself time to think. She couldn't figure out what Gremory's aim was with telling such a tall tale. Naturally, she didn't believe a word of it, and she was getting annoyed that she was being side-tracked from her answers with such bullshi—

Unless…these were her answers.

Gremory opened her mouth, but Yoko cut her off. "Tell me…what do these Fallen Angels look like?"

Gremory blinked. "Typically, they tend to have black hair and dark eyes, but there is the rare case where they retain their fair hair and eye colour from their time as a pure Angel. They also have feathered black wings, the amount dependent on their power."

 _Black wings burst out of Yuma's back, sending dark feathers into the air as they flapped behind her._

Yoko's whole body stiffened.

"I see that you have realised it." Gremory said, catching Yoko's gaze with her own. "Two nights ago, you were attacked by a Fallen Angel."

Yoko fell back against the sofa. She stared at her knees, brow furrowing in thought. She laced her fingers together, resting her elbows on her thighs. She clenched her fingers, bashing down the surge of emotions that remembering that night unleashed. Ignoring them, and after waiting until her voice wouldn't waver, she asked, "Why was I targeted by her?"

" _There's no chance a loser like you could be a threat to us. Even with one of the Sacred Gears given by God…"_

"Sacred Gear…" She muttered, looking up, back into Gremory's steady gaze. "She mentioned that term…"

"Yes, I believe that you were targeted by the Fallen because you possess a Sacred Gear."

Yoko bit the inside of her lip. Any thoughts of maintaining ground or seeing through machinations were gone. This was too big to be concerned with such things. She still wanted to claim bullshit on Devils and the like existing but…what else could explain everything that had happened?

She'd been attacked by a woman with black wings. She woke up in her bed, perfectly healthy the next day. What else could explain these events other than supernatural forces at work? She'd already accepted that the events of that evening happened, as well as the mysterious, previously unexplained circumstances that had led her back to her bed. Of course, the explanation for such absurd incidents would be absurd in of itself. She had so many more questions, she didn't know where to begin.

After thinking about it for a minute, she decided to address the most confusing aspect of it all. "She…she didn't just attack me, did she? She…killed me. Stabbed me through the heart with a spear. So how can I still be alive?"

"… _Reincarnated Devil…"_

"…Before, Shitori said, 'Reincarnated Devil'."

"That's right. On that night, you died. On that same night, I resurrected you…as a Devil."

Yoko wanted to laugh. It just sounded so absurd.

"I'm sure you've noticed, in your limited time as a Devil, that your senses, your energy, everything rises during the night. That the sun itself drains you, feels as if it is piercing your skin. That is because Devils thrive during the night. Our power, our senses, they all become stronger during night-time. Conversely, the sun is our natural enemy."

"…So you were the one who put me in bed? Who re-dressed me, disposed of my clothes, and healed me?"

"Yes. Devils of the same household can be healed through skin-to-skin contact."

"Why…" Yoko's brow twitched. "Why didn't you tell me about all this? Did you enjoy leaving me to figure this shit out by myself? I bet you sat here, laughing at the thought of me freaking out as my body went through these changes!"

"No, nothing of the sort!" For the first time during the conversation, Gremory wore an expression other than cool disinterest. Her brows were furrowed, her cheeks flushing in indignation. "I merely wished for you to have the time to come to terms with the changes. I didn't want to overwhelm you with too much information at once."

"Well, newsflash, but I was pretty fucking overwhelmed when I heard my neighbour's oncoming divorce several houses down the road from my bedroom window! When I opened my curtains, and felt like I was being jabbed by red hot pokers! And being kept up all night hearing my next-door neighbours frantic banging was more than little 'overwhelming'!"

She didn't mention how the disruption of her routine added to the experience; refused to give them more ammo against her. That shred of restraint made her realise that she needed to calm down. She was getting careless. She had forgotten, in the chaos of the last few minutes, to keep her emotions in check. Yoko took a deep breath, and slumped back against the sofa.

From the way Gremory's face was going blank again, it was clear to Yoko that Gremory herself had been getting emotional. The possibility that it was an act came to mind, but she was getting the sense that Gremory wasn't quite the mastermind Yoko made her out to be. Plus, her response was too emotional. Gremory had slipped up, shown weakness, and Yoko was sure that someone as prideful as Rias Gremory wouldn't make themselves look weak on purpose.

"I admit that the way I went about this wasn't…optimal." Gremory said, wincing slightly.

…Ok, that blew Yoko's conclusions away. She'd expected justifications, attempts from Gremory to make her decision appear correct. The last thing she expected was honesty and…was that some humility?

Yoko was suspicious, to say the least.

' _Why would she admit that? Is…is she trying to make me warm up to her, make herself look more approachable?_ '

Yoko's eyelid twitched.

"As I said before, I didn't want to overwhelm you, but I can see now that might not have been the best choice. I didn't take your personality into account, and you became worked up when I intended the opposite. That was my failure as your master."

Such a humble statement might have shocked Yoko speechless, if not for that final bit.

"Master? Of me? You?" Yoko fired off, staring incredulously. Yet again thoughts of remaining calm had been blasted away by the red-head's words. The entire conversation was just too bizarre for Yoko; it felt impossible for her to keep up, never mind gain any ground on Gremory.

Gremory blinked, then grimaced. "Yes, in order to revive you, I had to bring you back as my Devil servant." She clicked her fingers, and in a flash of light, a box appeared on the desk before her.

Yoko's eyes almost bulged out of her skull.

"During the three-sided war between the Devils, the Fallen Angels, and God and his Angels, both sides had large armies that warred against one another since time immemorial. As a result, all three sides lost most of their troops, and the war ended several hundred years ago with no side winning."

For the first time since Yoko spat out her tea, Kiba spoke up. "The Devils were no exception. High ranking Devils with peerages, who commanded around 20 or 30 troops, lost most of their underlings because of the war. Such was their losses that they couldn't even form new armies."

Himejima had a sip of tea before continuing, "I heard that most of the pureblood Devils passed away in that war. Even after the war, there are still problems between the Devils, the Fallen Angels, and God. Despite the Fallen Angels and God's side losing most of their troops, we are still in a position where we can't let our guard down, or else we'll be in trouble."

Yoko, in the very back of her mind mused that, if they were trying not to overwhelm her with information, they were doing a piss-poor job of it.

"Because of this, the Devils decided to use a system to form small groups of soldiers; the Evil Piece system." Gremory reached into the box and pulled out a crimson item from it. Yoko recognised it instantly.

"A chess piece?"

More specifically, Gremory was holding a Bishop. "By using Evil Pieces, High-class Devils, such as myself, are able to reincarnate other species into Devils. We do this to rebuild our numbers, as Devils have a very low birth-rate. If we didn't resort to something like this, we would eventually die out. To bring the you who was killed back to life, I used my Evil Pieces to turn you into a Devil."

"…But why chess?"

"Devils with Peerages decided to ascribe the traits of the human game chess to their Devil servants. It was also sarcasm, as most of them are reincarnated humans. Since then, chess has become a popular game in the world of Devils. That's not important, though."

That still didn't answer Yoko's question, but she decided that out of everything, it was the least questionable thing she had heard that afternoon.

Gremory continued, "Devils who are masters are the King; in our case, that is me. From there they created 5 special traits that consist of Queen, Knight, Rook, Bishop, and Pawn. Since they couldn't make an army, they decided to have a small number of Devils and give them enormous powers. This system was made in the past few hundred years, and this unexpectedly became popular amongst Devils with peerages."

Yoko felt a sense of foreboding. "How so?"

"They started to compete against each other. For example, exchanges like 'My Knight is stronger!' and 'No, my Rook is stronger!' occurred. As a result, High-class Devils started to play a game like that of chess against each other using their Devil servants. We call it the 'Rating Game'. Anyway, now there are even tournaments for it. The strength of the Pieces and how strong they are within the game affects the Devil's social standing, as well as their peerage's. There is a thing called Piece Collect, where Devils gather humans with talents and make them into their Pieces. It's very popular recently. Talented servants become a Devil's status."

Yoko felt the beginnings of a headache forming. It went nicely with the lump of iron dropped into her stomach. The idea that these Devils were collecting people and battling with them like they were Pokémon or something made Yoko feel ill. Even to her, that was pretty fucked. That nausea turned to anger as she considered something.

"Is that why you revived me? Because you wanted me to fight for you, or whatever it is these Rating Games are about?" As she spoke, another question came to mind. "And come to think of it, how the hell did you find me to revive me? I refuse to believe you just stumbled upon me while you were out for a walk."

Gremory reached into her desk drawer and pulled something out. "Do you recognise this?" With a flick of her wrist, a piece of paper flew onto the table before Yoko. Looking down at it, Yoko frowned, then gasped.

"The leaflet! I was handed one on Sunday." She had totally forgotten about it.

"This is one of the leaflets we give out. This magic circle is used to summon us Devils. These days there aren't many people who would draw this circle to summon us. So, we give these leaflets to people who look like they would summon Devils. On that day, one of our familiars was handing them out in the business district. You got it at that time, Ikawazu-san. After you were attacked by the Fallen Angel, you called me while you were on the verge of death. You wished so hard that it summoned me. Usually, my servants like Akeno and the others would be the ones summoned."

…

That…wasn't right.

Yoko almost frowned, but just managed to restrain it. She had basically stopped listening after Gremory said about wishing on the verge of death.

As much as she hated to admit it, as much as the recollection made her chest feel hollow yet full of spikes, she hadn't wished for anything on the verge of death.

 _Her vision began to fade, the encroaching blackness covering her view of the sunset. '…whatever…I guess…it isn't all bad…at least…I don't…have…to…try…any…more…it's…kind…of…a…relief…actu_

The world tilted on its axis. The room turned red as her vision warped. All the frustration, all the confusion, the awe and wonder and terror of the supernatural existing, all of it faded as one, powerful emotion overtook it all.

Sheer, unadulterated, rage.

Gremory. Was. Lying.

Such was her anger that she couldn't move, couldn't react. Her face froze at whatever emotion it had been showing before her world turned upside down. She couldn't remember which. It didn't matter.

Why was Gremory lying? What would she have to gain? What does it imply? Could she have had something to do with it all? Why else would she lie about something so minor? All these thoughts and more swirled around her tired, frazzled brain, the fuzz of sleep deprivation blown away; she was fully awake now.

The flustered, reactionary mess that she had been for the entire conversation was no more. The anger focused her, brought everything into perspective.

She hadn't been staying ahead in this conversation. Hadn't been keeping up, even. Despite the repeated attempts at telling herself to stay unemotional and focused, she had been the opposite. How could she be anything else? What Gremory had been telling her was so far out of her perception of reality, how could she react in any way other than shock.

But now, now she could focus. Emotions weren't her enemy in this conversation, they were her greatest ally. One specific emotion in particular.

The sheer, soul-searing infuriation coursing through her veins was a perfect focal point.

Her mini episode lasted all of a few seconds. The world realigned itself, the natural colours of life seeping back in. For the first time since entering the room, Yoko felt like she was seeing everything clearly.

Her eyes darted around the room. On Kiba, who had that famous smile of his frozen on his face. His poker face was incredible, but was it because he was just that good, or did he not know that Gremory was lying?

To Himejima, whose own smile was firmly stuck on. Her demure, unassuming smile looked as if had been painted on, the perfect depiction of a traditional yamato nadeshiko. But despite that, Yoko didn't miss how Himejima's eyes were just then returning from a glance at Gremory.

Toujou had stopped eating, and was giving Gremory a blank look—not that was new. But the look she gave Yoko after was not so empty; the girl's emotionless expression was top notch, but the eyes don't lie. A mysterious look in those amber eyes told Yoko…she didn't know, but the change in them when Gremory lied gave Yoko the impression that the junior knew more than her peers.

And Gremory…it was clear to Yoko that Gremory _was_ just _that_ good at lying. Yoko could have almost believed it herself, if she didn't remember her dying thoughts, clear as day. If she had, perhaps, allowed the pain of the experience to warp her perception, to let her believe a lie that, in all honesty, was kinder than the truth.

But that memory was the premise for Yoko believing everything that Gremory had said until this point. If Yoko had just written off her own experience, had let the pain of the emotions she was suppressing win, then she wouldn't be in that room, demanding answers. Would have written it all off as a strange dream and memory issues.

That memory and her anger were her greatest weapons. She couldn't let go of either of them.

"When I was summoned and saw you, I knew right away that you were a Sacred Gear possessor and that you were attacked by a Fallen Angel. But there was a problem: Ikawazu-san, you were on the brink of death. Not just Devils, but humans also die if impaled by a Fallen Angels spear of light. You were in that kind of condition, so I decided to save your life."

Yoko felt like she was starting to understand, just a little. She was certain that Gremory didn't save her out of the kindness of her own heart. She must have wanted something, something that Yoko possessed. Perhaps, the same reason she was targeted by Y…by the Fallen Angels.

" _There's no chance a loser like you could be a threat to us. Even with one of the Sacred Gears given by God…"_

Yoko took a minute to prepare herself. Despite how useful her rage was at that moment, it wouldn't help her if it gave away her suspicions. As much as Yoko was positive that Gremory was a lying sack of shit, she had the feeling that calling her out on it would only go poorly.

She had one last question, or at least, the last question she'd ask Gremory directly. "What exactly are these Sacred Gears, anyway? I assume that they're important."

Gremory nodded, not looking as if she felt any guilt over lying about the death of a peer. "Indeed. The only reason the Fallen Angel approached you was so she could check if there was a dangerous thing inside of you."

"Dangerous?"

Again, Kiba spoke up. "Sacred Gears are an irregular power that is bestowed to certain humans. For example, most of the people whose names are recorded in history are said to be possessors of a Sacred Gear. They used the power of their Sacred Gear to record their names in history."

Yet again, Himejima continued after him. Yoko was starting to wonder if it was rehearsed. "Presently, there are people who possess Sacred Gears within their bodies. You know those people who play an important role worldwide? Most of those people possess a Sacred Gear."

Gremory carried on. "Most of the Sacred Gears have functions that are only usable in human society. But there are exceptional Sacred Gears that are a threat to us, the Devils, and fallen Angels. Ikawazu-san, stand up and raise your hand."

Yoko blinked, not feeling inclined to do anything the red-head asked—no, demanded. Gremory's tone left no room for discussion, and it rankled Yoko something fierce.

Gremory stared, then sighed. "If you would please."

Yoko still wanted to tell her to fuck off, but she figured she might as well go along with it.

"Why exactly am I doing this?" She asked, getting up off the sofa.

"You're going to awaken your Sacred Gear."

Yoko's eyes twitched, just managing to stop them widening. Despite the overwhelming anger she felt at the moment, she was a little bit excited. If Gremory was to be believed—as hard as that was to imagine—then Yoko was about to unlock a hidden power inside of herself. The idea that she had something that supernatural beings, such as Devils and Fallen angels, considered dangerous was appealing.

Yoko would take any advantage she could get in this disadvantageous situation she found herself in. She raised her arm.

"Close your eyes and imagine the strongest thing that comes to mind."

"Strongest thing?" Yoko said, frowning. "Like what?"

"Like perhaps an anime character who you consider to be the strongest being."

"I don't watch anime."

Gremory looked as if Yoko had shot her dog. A stifled giggle from Himejima snapped Gremory out of her daze. "Never? Not once in your life? Maybe when you were younger?" Gremory said, sounding as if she was pleading. As if her life views were crumbling around her.

Yoko knew the feeling.

"Why is this even necessary?" Yoko asked.

"There are many factors that are involved in awakening a Sacred Gear." Kiba said. "One of them is how the user is feeling at the time."

"In this place, filled with demonic power, it will be easier to summon your Sacred Gear." Gremory said, seemingly recovered from whatever had shocked her. "Picturing something that reminds you of strength should be enough to awaken your Sacred Gear here."

Yoko…supposed that made sense. On some level. Still, she struggled to think of such a thing. As she said, she didn't watch anime. The only time she had ever watched anime was when she was a child, when she visited her childhood friend's house.

Yoko stiffened as an idea came to mind. Her cheeks went warm, and her gaze drifted off to the side.

Gremory noticed. "Have you thought of something?"

Yoko, unable to speak, gave a sharp nod.

"Then mimic the pose of that person. You have to imagine it strongly ok? You cannot hold back."

Yoko's blush deepened. Even her powerful rage was overtaken, for a moment, by the embarrassment rising to her face. She took a deep breath, and glared at Gremory, barely managing to keep a pout off her face. "Th-This better not be a prank!"

"Of course not." Gremory placated, raising her hands slightly. She glanced at Himejima, who was staring at Yoko with a strange gleam in her eyes.

Yoko tried to ignore it, not even wanting to begin unwrapping whatever _that_ was about. Taking another deep breath Yoko closed her eyes, raised her hand, splayed out her fingers, and, cheeks bright red, yelled out, "M-Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

The room was silent for a moment. Yoko's blush spread further across her face as her trembling arm remained pointing straight up. Her eyes were screwed tightly closed, not wishing to see the reactions to her shout.

"Now, open your eyes." Gremory said, after a while, not giving anything away in her tone. "As I said, it should appear easier in this place."

With great reluctance, Yoko opened her eyes. She gasped as her arm began to glow. The light spread across her arm, and once it vanished a red gauntlet covered her arm down to her elbow. The most striking feature was the jewel on the back of where her hand was.

"This is…"

"Your Sacred Gear." Gremory peered at it, tilting her head, and hummed. "That Fallen Angel saw your Sacred Gear as a threat and therefore killed you."

Yoko didn't say anything. She remembered what Yuma had said to her. Perhaps, at some point, Yuma had thought Yoko a threat, but what she said after stabbing her implied otherwise. She clenched her gauntleted fist.

If she ever saw that bitch again, she'd show her how much of a "loser" she truly was.

"Do you have any further questions?"

Oh, Yoko had plenty. But she wouldn't be asking Rias Gremory any of them.

She didn't know why Gremory had lied to her about how she was revived. Maybe Gremory was trying to come across as her graceful saviour. Maybe Gremory was doing that Piece Collect thing she had mentioned, and didn't want to admit it. Maybe it was both. If there was one thing Yoko knew, it was when someone was trying to pull a con on her. She'd done it enough herself to recognise the signs. To notice the small inconsistencies that such a thing aroused.

Because no matter what Gremory said, and no matter how much it pained Yoko to admit, she had not wanted to live that night. The sheer agony the acceptance of her fate wrought was so vivid and fresh, that it was all the proof she had needed to accept that it had happened. That the supernatural was real; that Devils, Fallen Angels, and Angels were real. (The summoning of the box was pretty good proof too, but Yoko was making a point, damn it!)

It was also the rock-solid proof that Gremory had lied to her about something as important as her death.

And Ikawazu Yoko was, if anything, someone who used whatever she had to its fullest to get an advantage.

Yoko decided, then and there, that she would never trust a thing Gremory had to say. She would use Gremory, and the Occult Research club, use them all until she got everything she needed. She would learn everything there was to know about being a Devil. She would take this tragedy, and turn it into her future success.

Perhaps Yuma had been right, maybe she had been aimless. Well, now she had an aim, a goal: to find out the truth about her death. Once she figured it all out, she would decide what to do next. But whatever she did at that point, she knew one thing.

There was no way in hell (literal or otherwise) that she was going to accept being somebody's _servant_. She wasn't going to be pitted against others in battle as if she were a Pokemon, or a literal chess piece, all for the benefit of some rich girl's social status.

So, Yoko, with her Sacred Gear at hand and her wits and guile primed, looked at Rias Gremory, and smiled. "One more question. What did you do with my clothes? I really liked that top."

And with that, Yoko's new life as a Devil began.

* * *

 **Rightio, there's chapter 5. Loved it, hated it? Review and tell me what you think! Or don't, I'm not the boss of you. Be nice if you did tho, just Saiyan.**

 **I hope Yoko's narration wasn't utter garbage and horrible to read. And yeah, it was a big exposition dump, even bigger than the canon one, but I figured it made sense to have it. After all, Yoko had a lot of big questions, and they needed big answers. Yoko isn't the kind of character to be happy with incomplete explanations of what she's interested in. (yet another reason it took so long to do this chapter was because i was kinda putting off doing the big exposition dump chapter, soz)**

 **((omg these chapters keep getting longer and longer, i don't mean for them too, yeesh))**

 **Onto the review corner!**

 _ **DschingisKhan**_ **: I hope my explanation about the lack of a home visit was satisfactory, I figured that it would make sense, considering canon.  
And yeah, Yoko wouldn't be where she is in life without a strict routine, and she's kinda begun to rely on it a bit too much.  
Yeah, she was panicking pretty hard—I was worried I over did it a bit, but responses have been favourable.  
Tamaki has a rough time of it, being divorced and alienated from his daughters, but yeah he's not that effective as a parent.  
I thought it would be interesting, glad you agreed! In canon Raynare wiped people's memories of her, and I wondered how that might affect people who were directly affected by her in such a way, and that phone call was the result!  
Thanks for another review, they're super appreciated! Hope to hear from you again!**

 _ **Raiyoukai**_ **: Thanks for the praise! Yeah, I saw what you meant—I hope it's less clunky now, but I feel like this chapter might have been a bit all over the place, so it might be worse now. Hopefully, that isn't the case.  
Yup, yup! I felt it was only natural to react that way. It would be pretty emotionally devastating. I'm hoping to showcase the effects of what Raynare did a bit more than in canon. There isn't really any mention of how it affected Issei until volume 9, and since Yoko is a different person naturally she would handle it differently as well.  
Glad you enjoyed her interaction with her pops, I'm also excited to expand on their relationship and history more. Their relationship is strained, and I hope the explanation, when it comes, is good.  
I wanted to cut Yoko off from a big resource that she had from before the "incident". If she's going to ever improve as a character and a person, she needs to lose access to certain things.  
I'm glad you like the way I ended the Murayama and Katase subplot, I'm quite proud of that one myself.  
Her neighbours, ahem, nightly activities came to me as I was writing the chapter, and it made me laugh so much I just had to include it. Still, it let me establish something that will happen in the future, so that was a nice bonus XD  
Thanks again for the review! I super appreciate every review I get, and getting multiple reviews from people always makes me happy! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that it wasn't a big pile of garbage!**

 _ **MrMayhem FF**_ **: Thank you very much! I'm glad you like the story thus far! Asia's relationship to Yoko will certainly be special, and it probably will become romantic, sorry. But, it also might not, and if it does it might not be for a while. Heck, romance is going to take a while with anyone, given how prickly and traumatised Yoko currently is. Anywhoo, I hope enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you enjoy future chapters.**

 _ **Belgianreader**_ **: Thanks, thanks! I always try to be original with my stories, and I haven't seen anything like that be done, yet. I wanted to subvert the trope of the protagonist saving a girl from a gang, and it went even further with the memory erasure.  
I'm glad you think so! I tried hard to make Yoko realistic and interesting.  
As I said earlier, Rias wasn't being malicious—remember, Hanlon's razor!  
I'm glad you've been enjoying my story so much! I hope this chapter was enjoyable too, and I hope that you continue to enjoy it! **

_**Dracowoman**_ **: Glad it wasn't too long a wait for you ;) Sorry, there won't be an bashing in this story, not if I can help it.**


	6. Chapter 6 (Re-upload)

**([4/12/2018] Sorry about this guys, I had a major brain fart and accidentally deleted this chapter. Though, I suppose this is a good chance to address my absence in updating. Basically, I got a bit burnt out with DxD I suppose, so I took a break. I mean, I did read like, 7 of the light novels in a few months on top of writing and planning for this story, so I guess it's no surprise. I'm sorry to report that I'm only just starting the planning of chapter 7. Don't get me wrong, I have a damn strong idea of what to write, it's just that I'm at the point that I have to be super careful about not fucking the story up so I wanna take the time to carefully plan it. I got started on it today, but the BRAND NEW PEN I bought to write stuff down with decided not to work, so that annoyed me a great deal considering I'd already had it swapped from another one because that one barely worked, only for the newer one to be even worse. (That's the last time I buy a pen from work...) So that put me off for the rest of the day, shit excuse I know, but I don't think it's any secret** **by this point** **that I'm extremely fickle.**

 **So yeah, don't worry, my drive for this story has started to return, started thiking about it again and getting excited for it. Not going to give any guarntees on when it'll be done, but it is in the works.**

 **Laters)**

 **Well, hmm, shit, this is rather late, ain't it? Don't have much of an excuse to be honest. Got a job since last time, but it's not like it's kept me all that busy. I've been dabbling in some other writing, but again, nothing that's kept me busy. I guess the only reason for this being so late is that the chapter intimidated me to some degree. I spent a long time debating on whether I should add certain things. The story has gotten to the point where anything I bring up in it can have an effect for the future of the story, so just writing this chapter without thinking about it would be a bad idea.**

 **I also intended on this chapter being a lot longer, but if I included everything that I wanted to in this chapter, it would be more than twice as long, and it would take even longer to get it out to you guys. Plus, while ruminating on this chapter, I've come across some things that I found needed more thought before I dedicated myself to them.**

 **I'm trying very hard to not screw this story up by including things I haven't thought carefully about. I feel like a sculptor, carefully chipping away at marble to make a decent looking statue.**

 **The problem with plans is, they can change, for better or for worse. I had gone into this chapter with a certain thing in mind, but the more I thought about it the less I liked it, in that particular direction at least. Basically, while this chapter has taken a long time to come out, I think it's for the best for the future of this story. If I carelessly added something in that didn't work, the whole thing could be screwed up.**

 **All in all, this story is actually quite scary for me to write. I've carelessly screwed up a lot of stories, and I really want to avoid that with this one.**

 **So, while this chapter isn't as long as I thought it would be, I didn't want to make you guys wait any longer. Plus, I believe it cuts off at a pretty natural place.**

 **So, yeah, here's hoping that this chapter is at least okay.**

* * *

Yoko was a patient girl. She might not have come across as patient, the other day, but Yoko was very good at persevering. Her studious nature and academic excellence had not developed overnight, after all.

Back when she was still a short haired middle schooler knocking heads together, Yoko barely touched a textbook. Her teachers despaired over her poor attention span, though most of them gave up on the girl, considering her to be nothing more than a delinquent.

One teacher however was not so quick to give up. Halfway through Yoko's second year at middle school, the school's career advisor sat Yoko down in her office for a chat.

Yoko leant back in her chair, arms and legs crossed, a faint sneer gracing her face. Having just come from one of her regular brawls, Yoko's knuckles were bruised. The rest of her was spotless, her only wounds coming from punching too much. Her barely neck length hair was a tad ruffled, but it always had been messy. She wore a strange mix of the male and female uniform, donning the top of the girls and the bottom of the boys. It was the most the school was willing to negotiate on her utter refusal to wear the girl's uniform-truthfully, after the twenty-seventh argument about it in two weeks, the headmaster made the offer then kicked her out of his office, locked the door, closed the blinds, and wouldn't leave until she agreed.

He was in there for a week, but Yoko eventually accepted.

Kuramoto-sensei observed all of this with a blank look. She stared at Yoko, not saying a thing. Yoko stared back, also not speaking. This went on for twenty minutes until even the stubborn Yoko had enough.

"You going to scold me or not?" She said, annoyance clear in her voice. Her foot had started tapping about five minutes ago, and it continued as she waited for an answer.

Kuramoto-sensei, instead of answering, opened a file and looked it over. Her eyes scanned the document inside, ignoring the growing ball of agitation that was her student. Before Yoko could speak again, her mouth opening, Kuramoto-sensei finally addressed her.

"Your grades are decent, considering."

Yoko paused with her mouth open. She blinked. "Considering what?"

"Considering that you don't put any effort in." Kuramoto-sensei said, glancing up over her glasses to bore her gaze into Yoko's. "Despite you skipping half of your classes, and messing around in the rest of them, when it comes down to what work you actually do, you do surprisingly well."

Yoko frowned a little. This hadn't been what she expected. "So what? What do you care?"

"You're clearly an intelligent girl, Ikawazu. Putting your grades next to your fellow troublemakers, well, they don't even compare. But put them next to even a slightly studious pupil, and they pale. Natural intelligence is worthless without applying it."

At this, Yoko's anger returned. "Worthless? Who you calling worthless?"

"Does that upset you? Being called worthless?" Kuramoto-sensei raised an eyebrow. She pushed her hair behind her ear, and despite the girls indignation, Yoko's eyes followed the motion.

Yoko shook her head. "Well duh! Who wouldn't be?"

"Tough. You don't have the right to complain."

"What!?"

"As long as you refuse to apply yourself, that intelligence of yours will go to waste. Whatever potential you have will be squandered. All of it will be worthless. You, will be worthless."

By now, Yoko's knuckles were clenched so hard that the bruises started bleeding. "Then why the hell are you wasting your time on someone so worthless?" She said, spitting the words as if they tasted bad.

"Because I don't want you to be worthless, Ikawazu."

Yoko froze.

"As a teacher, it is my pride, my joy, to see young people thrive. To match their potential, to be the best that they can be." Kuramoto-sensei leant back in her seat, folding her hands together. "It's why I became the school's career advisor. It's why we're having this conversation."

Yoko swallowed, not breaking eye contact with the woman.

Satisfied she was paying attention, Kuramoto-sensei continued. "I've dealt with numerous delinquents during my career. Each one of them has gone on to either be high school dropouts, if they even get that far, criminals, or both. None of them have had the same potential that I see in you. You're a bright young woman, and I believe you can go far in life."

Yoko's face started to turn red.

Kuramoto-sensei stood up, walked around her desk and sat on the edge. Yoko's eyes glanced down at her womanly, stocking clad legs, before shooting back to her face. Yoko turned redder. "But, if you keep on as you are, you will become just like the rest. You will become what you fear most—worthless. You don't want that do you, Ikawazu?"

Yoko swallowed again, wetting her dry lips with her tongue. "N...No…"

For the first time during their talk, Kuramoto-sensei smiled. "No, of course not. But don't worry, I can help you. I can talk to my colleagues, get them to give you another chance. But you must _want_ to improve, Ikawazu. If you don't want to become who you can be, then walk out of here, and never look back. End up as some NEET, or AV idol, if you're lucky. But if you truly, truly wish to reach your potential, then say yes, and I will endeavour to turn you into the successful young woman I know you can be."

Yoko finally broke eye contact, her flush covering most of her face. After shifting in place for a minute, she finally answered.

"Yes."

After that conversation, Yoko worked to improve herself. She spent less time skiving and fighting, and more time studying. In a year, Yoko had turned her life around. It had been slow going, relatively, but Yoko's grades steadily climbed to the top. The more she succeeded, the more her efforts were rewarded, the more Yoko studied. She experimented, found how she learned best.

The more refined her mind became, the more she started to build her well-earned pride, the less she felt content to live like a slob. Being the teenage child of a divorced, middle aged man who worked all the time, Yoko was used to living in a messy home. But Yoko's newfound sense of self-respect refused to live like that.

She learned how to do the housework, and how to cook, no longer satisfied with microwave meals. After weeks of barely managing it all, Yoko learned how to manage her time. Once she had a halfway decent schedule, her productivity skyrocketed.

The changes in Yoko were apparent. Instead of only being respected by the school's delinquents, she earned the admiration of the rest of her peers. They were amazed that such a troublemaker could do so well. Of course, there were still many who did not like her, the memory of her deeds still fresh in their minds.

Soon enough, the other delinquents began to copy her example. If their Banchou, who they looked up to, who was like them if even a little bit, could do so well, then maybe they too could have even a fraction of her success.

Even her teachers changed their tune. Soon enough she became their favourite student, a testament to how effective their teaching truly was.

The changes in everyone's attitude towards Yoko amazed her. The same people who looked down on her, who gave up on her, now looked up to her, treated her like she was a somebody. It was then that Yoko realised the importance of appearances, of how people saw you.

She experimented with her newfound knowledge. She already had skill in reading people, but once applying it further she found herself noticing their body language, how they think. By predicting how people thought, she found herself able to say and do the right things to influence others.

During her observations, she began to realise how much she enjoyed looking at girls. Her favourite subjects to study were her fellow females. She found great satisfaction in making them smile, making them blush. The fact that it was _her_ getting those reactions thrilled her. It was a rush, having a pretty girls attention, saying and doing the right things to get them to react favourably.

The realisation that she was a lesbian struck Yoko one day, when she was watching a girl respond to her flirting. Flirting! She hadn't even realised it, but that was what she had been doing. It shocked her something fierce.

There was one person who she could confide in. Kuramoto-sensei had been understanding, unsurprised, even. The acceptance of the one adult who believed in her- the only authority figure that she respected-was all Yoko needed, and she embraced her newly realised nature.

By the time Yoko had graduated, she was the top of her year. At Kuramoto-sensei's suggestion, she took the Kuoh Academy entrance exam and passed with flying colours.

She had a fresh new start, a place where very few knew about her past. A place full to the brim of girls for her to flirt with. Her life was better than it ever had been, and it was because she had persevered, been patient. She had taken many knocks to her pride along the way, but she had done it.

And even though the day of her graduation had soured the whole experience, the fact that it ultimately worked in her favour let her push on with her new lifestyle (but that…is a story for another time).

So no, Yoko was no stranger to patience, to sticking her nose to the grindstone and getting things done.

It was the only reason she managed to put up with the week she had after her meeting with Gremory.

* * *

Yoko glared at the target of her ire, sheer indignation coursing through her mind. The injustice of it all was unbelievable; who could even dare to do such a thing? ' _What…what the fuck is this_?' Her eyes bore into the sight before her.

{Kombu- 680 Yen}

' _They raised the price of kombu by 200 Yen! This is an outrage!_ ' She threw another glare at the counter, where an employee was reading a magazine, not giving a single shit about Yoko's budgetary dilemma. She also cursed the local 100 Yen shop for not supplying kombu, inconsiderate bastards. Normally, Yoko did most of the weeks grocery shopping there, but for some things—such as kombu—she had to come to the grocery store.

As if her mood wasn't bad enough already from that meeting with Gremory and her cronies. She silently cursed at her father who, after the ramen had been delivered last night, realised that he forgot to go shopping, as he usually did when he had time off, to take a bit of the burden off Yoko's shoulders. While Yoko wasn't a stranger to doing their weekly shop, it was the last thing she wanted to be doing right then, exhausted as she was. Normally, Yoko would do the shopping after school on Mondays, but circumstances had led to it being delayed. It was why they even had takeout in the first place—that, and Ikawazu Tamaki was terrible at cooking, so it always fell on Yoko to cook dinner every night.

Breakfast though, he was on his own. She got up early enough as it was, she wasn't going to get up even earlier to make him some miso soup.

Running some quick calculations, she grudgingly admitted that she could fit it in their weekly expenditure; shopping at the 100 Yen store certainly helped when on a tight budget. Throwing it in her basket with an ungraceful toss, Yoko moved on to the next aisle.

As she tried to decide which type of tea she wanted, Yoko cast her mind back to the meeting with the Occult Research Club. If Yoko had still held any doubt about them all—herself included—being Devils, it had been blown away when the others stood up and released their bat-like wings. It had been a shock when her own shot out of her back, as if prompted by the others.

After Yoko received her clothes back from Himejima—in perfect condition and without a speck of blood on them—Gremory had suggested they call it a day. She told Yoko to have another day to get used to her new condition, and to return to the clubroom after school on Thursday. Apparently, there was still more to learn about what being a Devil servant entailed. Strangling her desire to tell Gremory to get bent, Yoko agreed.

As much as Yoko wanted to know everything in one sitting, the conversation had made her even more tired. A lot of information had been given, and the powerful emotions it invoked in Yoko exhausted her on a mental level. She ached to shove her face into a pillow and scream until her anger ebbed away to manageable levels. Instead she was trying to pick between green and chamomile teas while doing her father's forgotten chore.

After a yawn so large it could have its own orbit, she dropped the chamomile tea into her basket.

"Oh, my, that was a big yawn, Yoko-chan!"

Yoko froze. Sweat gathered on her forehead. Turning around in a stilted, robotic movement, she gave a polite yet strained smile. "G-Good afternoon, Satanaka-san."

Satanaka Suzuhana was a tiny old lady who barely came up to Yoko's bicep. Before she could stop herself, Yoko wondered how such a small woman could handle what she overheard last night. The bile she swallowed burned the back of her throat.

"Dearie me, you look exhausted!" Satanaka-san squinted up at Yoko's face, beady eyes magnified through half-moon glasses. In their reflection, Yoko saw the bags under her eyes, standing out against her pale skin. "You shouldn't stay up so late."

' _And whose fault is that, you horny old bag?!_ ' Yoko's brow twitched, pushing down the urge to brain the elder with her shopping basket. Clearing her throat, Yoko managed to speak with a level tone, "I had some difficulty sleeping last night. I wasn't very well yesterday, so sleeping was hard." Plus, she had to hear the old lady get railed for six consecutive hours.

"Oh my, I hope you're feeling better now, Yoko-chan."

"Um, yep, feeling better," she said, avoiding eye contact. "Still, I am a bit tired, so I'm going to finish the shopping now and go home for an early night in."

"You do that, dear. You look like you could do with an early night." With one last smile, Satanaka-san turned around and walked away. With a limp.

Yoko suppressed a full body shudder. As soon as she was done here, she thought, she was buying some earplugs.

* * *

Yoko blinked. She looked around, eyes taking in the scenery. Well, they would, if there was any scenery. If Yoko remembered correctly, her bedroom wasn't in an empty void. At least, it hadn't been when she went to bed.

She felt a faint rumbling, sending vibrations through her body. Flinching, Yoko looked around again, not seeing anything in front of her. Turning around, she flinched at the sight of a giant, red dragon looming over her. She blinked, craning her head up to take the beast in. Two piercing, green eyes stared deep into her own.

She blinked again.

The dragon blinked.

Yoko blinked.

The dragon, again, blinked. It moved its mouth, but no sound came out.

The rumbling returned.

Yoko's eyes rolled into the back of her skull.

* * *

Yoko gasped, flinging the duvet off her bed. She looked around, relieved to find herself back in her bedroom. No void this time. No dragon either. That was weird. The dream, that is, not the lack of voids or dragons in her bedroom. That was normal.

Looking at her alarm clock, Yoko saw that it was a minute away from going off. As she switched the alarm function off, Yoko realised that she was still, in a word, exhausted. Yanking the earplugs out, she threw them in the bin and got out of bed. As she went through her morning rituals—as was timetabled on her schedule, down to the second—Yoko mused on how she was going to deal with tomorrow.

Her end goal was still to figure out the truth behind her death, so naturally she would see what tomorrow could tell her about it. The question was, how would she go about it? Yoko had no idea what to expect tomorrow, Gremory hadn't given any details about it. Regardless, no doubt it had something to do with what was expected from her as a devil servant. She stopped cleaning her teeth after brushing too hard. Spitting in the sink, her annoyance grew at the sight of blood. The colour reminded her of Gremory's hair, which just made her angrier.

The idea that she was meant to be indentured to a rich snob was rankling enough. The girl was probably some spoiled rich kid, never having a tough day in her life. Her biggest worry was probably not having enough peacocks in her garden, or something equally as disgustingly extravagant. Rich people had peacocks, right?

Yoko was pretty sure that rich people had peacocks. Rich pricks.

She thought about the club she was apparently now part of. Somehow, the Devil had managed to get an entire building to herself as her clubroom. Sure, she was friends with the head of the student council, but Yoko was pretty sure that student-based bureaucracy only went so far.

Or…did it?

Yoko paused in the middle of buttoning her shirt. It couldn't be a coincidence that the girl who was: a) a Devil and, b) a friend of the head of the student council—who was also a Devil—had an entire building to herself. The same building that used to be the main school building. The building that was no longer in use because, as of the start of the last school year, was not big enough to handle an influx of new male students.

As far as Yoko could remember, the Occult Research club had only started last year. She remembered the stir it caused when the most popular girl in school started up a super exclusive club. This just so happened to coincide with the old school building no longer being used, as well as with the new school building being, well, built. Those latter two things only occurring because boys had been allowed to attend Kuoh Academy. The founding members of the Occult Research club, if she remembered rightly, were Rias Gremory and Himejima Akeno, shortly after being joined by …

Kiba Yuuto!

The boy-wonder had quickly risen in popularity after enrolling in the school. His charm, looks, personality, and general air of nicery were enough of a combo to make most girls need a change of underwear. It was believed at the time that Kiba had been allowed to join the Occult Research club because he had reached a certain status in the school; a sign that he was recognised by the most popular girl in school. It started the rumour that only the elite of the school could join the club. But what if it was the other way around. What if Kiba's status had risen BECAUSE he had joined the exclusive club? Straining her memory, Kiba did seem to be more widely known after joining.

Yoko frowned as she considered what this meant. If looked at from the outside, it sounded like some sort of conspiracy to raise Kiba's popularity faster than it otherwise would have. Which, quite frankly, was absurd. But if looked at from another angle, with the additional information that Yoko had, another possibility arose.

It's entirely possible that Kiba had become Gremory's servant after he had joined the school, the same time he joined the club. It was therefore fortunate for Gremory that Kuoh Academy had begun allowing boys to attend. But, if the earlier conclusion can be flipped on its head, then why not this one? If one considered that Kiba was Gremory's servant BEFORE he joined Kuoh, then that aforementioned possibility was obvious to Yoko.

In reverse order: Kiba joined the Occult Research club; the Occult Research club was created; Kiba enrolled in the school; Kuoh Academy became a co-ed school.

With her mind racing, Yoko came to an insane conclusion.

Kuoh Academy was turned co-ed, solely to allow for Rias Gremory's male servant to attend the same school as his master.

Yoko sat down on her bed, feeling very dizzy.

The kind of influence such a thing would suggest…it was mind boggling! Straight away, Yoko doubted her own conclusion. It was just…insane, to put it mildly! How could one person have so much influence? The high-school division of Kuoh wasn't the only one to go from being co-ed; EVERY SINGLE BRANCH HAD TOO! From elementary school to the university, each and every branch of Kuoh Acadmy had turned co-ed at the start of last year.

There was no way that such a colossal change had been made to suit the needs of a single teenage girl!

Yoko's eyelid twitched.

But…just the other day, Yoko wouldn't have believed in the supernatural. Was anything absurd, with the existence of Devils and Angels and who knows what else out there? Hell, Yoko had a gauntlet that she could summon with her mind that was gifted to her by the God of the Christian Bible!

Rias Gremory was a Devil, who was friends with the head of the student council, who was also a Devil. Gremory had an entire building to herself, that she could only use because it was no longer in use. It was entirely possible that Shitori Souna had given her friend the building. After all, one of the student council's roles was to allocate funding and clubrooms for clubs.

Was Shitori also behind the change to co-ed? No, impossible. Shitori hadn't even been the Kaichou until the start of this year. Yoko also doubted that the influence of a student council president, Devil or not, could extend to such ridiculous degrees. Which meant that either Gremory or Shitori had some incredibly powerful connections behind them. Gremory did mention that she was a "High-Class Devil", but what exactly that entailed Yoko wasn't sure. She supposed it meant Gremory was some sort of Devil nobility. Who probably had peacocks.

Yoko shook her head so hard it hurt. None of that mattered. Even if any of it was true, it didn't change a thing. Yoko still needed to find out the truth about her death. It didn't matter how much influence her supposed master had, it didn't change the fact that Yoko knew something fishy was going on.

Still, perhaps having so much—potential—influence at her fingertips had given Gremory the right to think she could mess around with Yoko's life. Hell, Gremory was probably used to treating other people's lives like chess pieces—literally, in fact, considering the Evil Piece system. With such power, money, and peacocks at her disposal, why should she care about the life of a single human girl, unless she could turn said human into her Devil servant.

If her conclusions were true, then it made her all the more convinced that Rias Gremory had been involved in her death in some capacity. It had probably been so easy for her, too. As easy as moving a chess piece from one square to the next.

Yoko ignored the small, miniscule part of her that was impressed by such cold-hearted machinations.

Regardless of if she was right or not, she still hadn't come up with a plan of action. The thought of going into whatever situation occurred on Thursday without one was not a pleasant thought. Yoko always had a plan, plans were what made her who she was. Without a plan she'd return to being the mindless thug who cared more about where her fists landed than where her life was going.

She could just wing it, she supposed. If she kept her wits about her and her temper under control, she could probably handle whatever tomorrow threw at her. The thought made her stomach churn, but by the end of it she would have the information she needed. Yoko wasn't a coward, and she wasn't going to let the fear of the unknown beat her. She would tackle the unknown head first, come to understand it, and then make it her bitch!

With her plan that wasn't really a plan decided, Yoko left for school.

* * *

Yoko made it to class three minutes early; an acceptable amount of time. Long enough that she could interact with her peers and maintain her friendly reputation, but just short enough that she didn't have to talk to them too much. Yoko didn't like people at the best of times, but she was particularly antsy lately. Any longer than three minutes and she might just punch someone.

If what Shitori had implied yesterday was true, then such an act could only end badly for everyone involved.

There was a thought. How much stronger did her new body make her? Or, reversely, how weak would it make her? Just sitting near the window made her feel like shit—how would she feel running track in the midday sun? Yoko grimaced. If her reputation was damaged by not being amazing during P.E., she was going to be pissed. She hoped she'd get used to the sun soon. As much as she liked the moon, she also quite liked the feeling of the sun on her skin and would be a tad disappointed if that was taken from her, as well as her humanity.

"Erm, Yoko-san?"

The familiar voice almost dragged a groan from her, but Yoko still turned around to address it. "Katase-chan." She blinked in surprise. "And Murayama-san too." Indeed, the brunette was standing next to her friend, shuffling awkwardly in place. Yoko also noticed how the twos fingers were entwined. "I see that Murayama-san took my advice."

The two blushed. Well, their already existing blushes deepened. Still, despite their embarrassment they didn't let go; their grip, in fact, tightened. Murayama looked away, unable to make eye contact.

"Erm…yes…" Katase licked her lips. "I'm…not sure what you said to her, but thank you, Yoko-san." She glanced at her girlfriend, catching her gaze, and the two share a subconscious smile.

Yoko felt her stomach turn a little at the sight. ' _How sickening_.'

"Erm…" Katase began, but Murayama shook her head.

"I get it." With a smile she let go of Katase's hand and left for her seat, throwing one last slightly grateful glance in Yoko's direction. Katase watched her for a moment before turning back to Yoko.

"Congratulations, Katase-chan." Yoko plastered on a smile.

"Thank you." Katase's face was all smiles and redness. "After our conversation last Saturday, a lot of things fell into place. Even more so after we both got together." Her face remained in Yoko's direction, but her eyes glanced away again for a second. "It…it made me really happy when she confessed to me."

"Well, considering I left you hanging for a while there, I felt obligated to give her a push as recompense." Plus, it got Murayama off her back in the moment, which was a plus.

"That's right, you reminded me; are you ok, Yoko-san?" Katase gained a troubled frown. "You weren't well on Monday, were you?"

Yoko's mouth went dry. She swallowed. "Erm, yes, just a small cold I…caught on Sunday. Nothing serious."

"I see, I'm relieved." Katase smiled. She glanced towards Murayama again, catching the brunette's gaze. They broke eye contact, embarrassed, but still looking happy. The edge of Yoko's lip curled. It was gone by the time Katase turned back. Glancing around the rest of the room, and seeing that it nobody was really paying attention, Katase leant in. "Erm, forgive me if I come across as too…well, anyway…" she took a deep breath, "I hope that…someday…you can find someone yourself, Yoko-san."

Yoko's heart froze.

"I know that…well, I remember what you said on Saturday, and I hope one day you can find someone who will soothe your fears." The sympathy was clear in Katase's eyes, and Yoko wanted to poke them for it.

The image of purple eyes flashed through her mind and sent a shiver down her spine.

"You're a good person, Yoko-san, and I hope you'll find someone who can see that." With those words, Katase stole away to her own seat next to Murayama.

Yoko remained frozen in place. She watched as the two held hands while sitting at their desk, even after the teacher started homeroom. Purple crossed her vision again, and she snapped out of her daze.

Looking out the window, Yoko rested her head on her fist.

" _You're a good person, Yoko-san, and I hope you'll find someone who can see that."_

A small, rueful smirk graced her face.

Katase, she decided, was not a good judge of character.

The rest of the day went on without incident. Nothing worth mentioning. The only thing of note was another dream she had that night, with the silent dragon and the void.

It might have been her imagination, but it looked a tad exasperated when she 'fainted' again.

* * *

 **Welp, Yoko's brain certainly has been whirring, hasn't it? Can't be good for anyone, overthinking things this much. Which, huh, is something that I can be guilty of now that I think about it. Someone reading this knows what I'm talking about lol.**

 **Hopefully Yoko's deduction part isn't too incoherent or out there. I'm trying to show that, while she's very analytical and can make conclusions, it really isn't doing her state of mind any good. Maybe her conclusions are true, maybe they aren't. It just always seemed to me that the time when boys were allowed in Kuoh seemed to coincide with when Kiba enrolled. If it made my mind whir, the possibility would certainly make Yoko's do the same.**

 **Also, hmm, a bit of Yoko's past, there. I had always intended on Yoko's life changing in that way thanks to a guidance councillor, but I didn't think it would end up going like that. Tell me what you thought of Kuramoto-sensei, kay? Also, I hope that Yoko's change from thug to honour student didn't seem shitty.**

 **(also, peacocks doesn't even sound like a word to me anymore)**

 **Again, this chapter is shorter than intended, but hopefully there's some value here with that flashback segment, the 'dream', Yoko's overthinking, and her talk with Katase.**

 **Anywhoo, onto Review Corner.**

Leblanc23 **—Glad you liked it! Hopefully, the conclusions she came too here seem as natural as those others did.**

DschingisKhan **—Seeing as I intended on Yoko being the POV more, maybe I did succeed then. Maybe I didn't explain it well? (wouldn't be the first time).  
Oh yeah, it sounds absolutely terrible, when viewed through her lens lol. Silly Rias, this is why you need to think things through XD.  
Oh man, Rias is certainly…something. She's written with the intent on being likeable and competent looking, but Ishibumi really fails on that front. She has several unlikable traits, and her writing isn't strong enough to make up for a lot of them, imo.  
You'll be glad to hear that, while the Fallen Angel arc will be similar to canon, there's a few aspects that will be different. Especially considering somebody isn't going to be th—oops! Went a bit far there, spoilers lie that way ****. Heh, glad I'm keeping you guessing. Hopefully, this chapter doesn't suck, since I'd hate to kill your enjoyment.  
Anywayz, hope you at least liked this chapter, and until next time!**

The Azure Reaper— **Yoko is smart, sure, but smart people often make stupid decisions too. In fact, because they are smart they sometimes think their thinking is flawless, and go through with really stupid things, especially when they're like Yoko. So, Yoko might be making some dumb decisions, but I'm trying to lay a lot of groundwork to explain why she would make those decisions, and what circumstances lead to those.  
And Raynare, hmm, spoiler lie on this path. I can't talk about my plans for her without talking about another character, and I want to keep that character's story on the quiet for now. I can say though, with absolute certainty, that the character in question has already been discussed by somebody with someone else in a previous chapter. That's all you get for now, heh, but I hope you stay tuned to see what I'm talking about.**

Raiyoukai **—Your words, they are too kind!  
I'm glad you liked that part, I found it pretty funny myself. And yeah, exposition dumps always suck, but I tried to make it at least worth it with Yoko's reactions to it. So, yep, Yoko now trusts Rias about as far as she can th—hmm, actually, she could probably throw her quite far now. Meh, you get the point lol.  
I intend on Yoko staying distant from the core ORC members for a few arcs, at least. Hmm, maybe by the Peace Summit, the relationship will improve a little, we'll see. It won't be by the Riser arc though, I will say. Maybe it will start by then, but only a little. They won't be buddy buddy, at the least, especially Yoko and a certain character—won't say who though, mwuahaha.  
Yeah, that's dumb. One of the rules of writing is to make sure that too much doesn't happen within a too small a time frame. Still, Ishibumi isn't the best writer on a good day, so what can you do.  
Glad you think so, I was super worried that it would be. And yeah, it might seem like a funny gag having Yoko be kept up by that, but in true DxD fashion, the dumb stuff is what's important later lol.  
Your review made me super happy, and I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter! Hopefully this chapter is ok, as well.**

Banru **—Yoko is the devil in the pale moonlight, lol.**

BattleshipFusou **—Man, the ease that Issei can accept being forced into servitude for eternity with is actually quite scary. Like, the idea that people can be ripped out of their lives on the whims of some supernatural toff is genuinely terrifying to me. The loss of free will, it ain't right.  
Hmm, not sure if that's how the Boosted Gear works, to be honest. Still, I do have some, hopefully, clever stuff lined up for that. So look forward to that.**

 **Welp, here's the part I kinda hate, waiting for the verdict, lol. Hope this wasn't shit!  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**Umm, hello. Been a while, huh.**

 **...So yeah, I think I probably got a bit burnt out with DxD. Writing as well, but I've been trying to get writing again lately. I've had most of this ready for months and months, but finishing it took some motivation.**

 **A shorter chapter than usual, here, but I'm trying something out. I wanted to see if I could get updates out faster with smaller chapters. My original plan for this chapter had it easily double what it is right now. That thought was pretty daunting, and besides, it's been so long since I updated this that I thought I should get something out.**

 **Some things that delayed this chapter was awesome games coming out like Kingdom Hearts 3, Sekiro, playing Breath of the Wild for the first time, and more recently Fire Emblem Three Houses (Black Eagles forever!), not to mention a while ago my Office subscription ran out, so I had to get that sorted before I could work on my unfinished Word documents.**

 **I've seen a lot of writers give their stories their own theme songs. It's something I've done once in the past, and I decided to find one for this story. For the first arc, I was thinking the song Kanzen Kankaku Dreamer by One Ok Rock. I find the lyrics a bit fitting for Yoko and this story.**

 **{So now my time is up  
** **Your game starts, my heart moving?  
** **Past time has no meaning for us, it's not enough  
** **Will we make it better or just stand here longer?  
** **Say it, "We can't end here 'til we can get it enough!"**

 **Absolute premise coated with lies  
** **It's always like that,  
** **My confidence churning with worry  
** **A seemingly weak but strong self!**

 **This is my own judgment! Got nothing to say!  
** **If you can think of something else quick, hurry up and spill!  
** **I'm called "Complete Awareness Dreamer!"  
** **The questions that might be there, hold on for now!}**

 **The "opening" portion is the first minute and a half or so, with a part of the intro taken out to make it more streamlined. Check it out, if you'd like to get into my heads space some. It's also a great song, so why not check it out on YouTube some time.**

 **Anyway, here's hoping interest for this hasn't died, and that the future of this story stays strong.**

* * *

For the first time in over two years, Yoko's attention was on her phone instead of class. Although such behaviour was unusual, the teacher ignored it, considering the girls grades. Besides, even if she was one of his best students, teenagers will be teenagers, the middle-aged man mused. He'd reprimand her if she did it in his next lesson, he promised himself. (He ignored the part of himself that told him he was lying.)

And so, Yoko was left to her browsing in peace. Her brow furrowed a tad as she read what was on screen.

 _DREAMS ABOUT DRAGONS—Interpretation and Meaning_

As a rule, Yoko tended to not believe in such superstitious mumbo-jumbo as dream interpretation. Yet, if Devils and Angels can exist, who's to say that there isn't meaning to be found in dreams (such reasoning was getting a bit stale by this point, but damn it, it still held water). She'd had the same dream multiple times now, and it was starting to bug her.

The thought of the dreams had bothered her all day until, in the last class of the day, she could no longer resist the urge to do some research. As another rule, Yoko liked to have knowledge of what she was doing, or what was happening to her. As could be seen in her extensive research on cafés and restaurants for her dates, and her demands for answers from Gremory. Point being, Yoko didn't like being ignorant about something.

True, she could ask Gremory whether there is any meaning to be found in dreams, only known to the supernaturally inclined. But frankly, she didn't want to. She'd asked enough of Gremory, and will do so more in the future, and the less she had to lower herself to the crimson Devil the better.

 _If you had a dream about dragons, you should not ignore it. As most other dreams, the dreams about dragons also have their meanings, so you should try to interpret them. In most cases the dragons in your dream symbolize your fiery personality and your angry outbursts._

 _Sometimes these dreams may also symbolize the anger of another person towards you._

Well, Yoko thought, there's certainly one person angry at her. Or at least, Yoko's very existence is enough to infuriate that woman. Lip curling, Yoko continued to read.

 _There is a belief that if a dragon appears in your dream, it can mean that you will have a lot of success in your business and your career._

She didn't need a dream dragon to tell her that, thanks.

 _A dragon in your dream may be a symbol of joy, fortune, and great wealth, but it may also be a symbol of your own selfishness._

Sure, if being angry at someone for enslaving you for essentially eternity could be considered selfish.

 _Sometimes the dreams about dragons may also have negative meanings, so they may be warning you of challenges and obstacles that will appear on your way very soon. If you see a dragon in your dream, it may be a sign to ask yourself if you are going through the right path in your life._

Yoko just about held in the snort that threatened to escape. It wasn't as if she had any control over her life for the foreseeable future. If she was on the wrong path, it was only because of the people around her. Not her fault she was stabbed and turned into a slave in the same evening.

She scrolled down the page, skimming over the rest of the information, most of it not striking a chord with her situation. She stopped on a small title and reread it.

 _ **Dreaming of a dragon that scared you:**_

Well…Yoko _supposed_ the dragon might have scared her just a little, considering she kept fainting at the sight of it. Did fainting in a dream mean something too? She'd check after.

 _If you have dreamed of a dragon that has scared you, then this dream indicates that you have a lot of problems at home._

Understatement, much?

 _In this case you should talk to your family members and you should try to solve the problems._

They day she had a heart to heart with her father was the day she bent over to Gremory and let the bitch brand her name on her ass. Her mother was a whole other can of worms. She'd have to know _where_ the harpy was first, and considering she was perfectly happy not knowing, that plan fell apart at stage one.

Tapping the URL bar, Yoko did a quick search and tapped on the first result.

 _FAINT/FAINTING_

 _A dream where you faint suggests that there is something in your waking life that you are avoiding or not willing to face up or deal with. This could be your personal feelings about something or someone, or an issue you are facing for example._

Purple eyes looked down at her until a shake of her head brushed the vision away. She put her phone away.

Dream interpretation was all bullshit, anyway.

Just as she decided this, the bell rang, and the teacher wrapped up what he was saying before leaving as fast as possible. Yoko huffed as she closed the browser app and put her phone away. Glancing around the classroom, she saw Katase and Murayama smiling at each other, and her stomach rolled. Looking away, she came face to face with another of her classmates.

"So, even the mighty Ikawazu Yoko can't pay attention to Naomasa-sensei. Nice to see you're just as human as the rest of us."

Hiding the flinch caused by the word choice, Yoko responded with a drawl, "Kiryuu-san, what can I help you with?"

Kiryuu Aika; a girl so straight you could mistake her for a metre rule. She was one of the girls in school to who Yoko wasn't so much as a spec on her radar, a sentiment Yoko returned. Yoko's reputation with the straight girls of Kuoh wasn't on the level it was with the boys, but general indifference was the same as distaste in Yoko's book.

But regardless of the socio-political environment within the rainbow spectrum of sexuality that made up Kuoh Academy, Kiryuu Aika was one of the few who could see through Yoko's bullshit. Unlike those other few, Kiryuu couldn't give so much as a damn about it. Kiryuu's own brand of perversion, while not on the same level as the Perverted Duo, was still enough for most of the sexually repressed Japanese youth of the academy to keep her at a distance. And while Kiryuu did have her friends, none of them were within Yoko's purview. Thus, since Yoko left her and hers alone, Kiryuu tended to keep her mouth shut and enjoy watching her peers make fools of themselves as they had their strings pulled by Yoko.

Still, the fact that Kiryuu had dirt on Yoko at all pissed off the new Devil.

"Do I need something to be able to talk to my classmate? What a sad life you live, Yoko-san."

"You know, you'd almost be cute if you weren't such a smart-ass."

"Careful now, don't let your adoring public hear you speak like that, they might just find out that you've got the personality of a dumpster fire."

"What. Do you. Want?" Yoko asked through grinding teeth, her limited patience for Kiryuu already straining.

"Hey now," Kiryuu smirked, holding her hands up in surrender, "can't blame me for being curious, can you? For the year and a bit that we've been classmates I've never once seen you on your phone in class. Something bothering you, maybe?"

Yoko eyeballed her for a moment, before looking away with a huff. "Even if there was, why would I tell you? We're not friends or anything." Her face threw on a perfect smile as one of the girls in their class waved at her as they left. It dropped straight after.

"Well, maybe not, but I'm probably the closest thing you've got to one."

"With friends like you, then, who needs enemies?"

Kiryuu rolled her eyes, smirk still firm on her face. "So dramatic."

Any further conversation was halted as screams came from the hallway. Familiar screams to anyone attending Kuoh.

"It's him!"

"The Prince himself!"

"Kiba-kun!"

"Hmm?" Kiryuu blinked and glanced towards the doorway. "That's funny, Kiba-kun has usually left the building by now. What's he doing so close to our classroom?"

Yoko grunted, having a pretty good idea.

Sure enough, seconds later Kiba Yuuto entered the classroom, causing much excitement from many of the girls still in the classroom. Considering a lot of Yoko's admirers were at the very least bi, their fanbases tended to have some overlap. Not only that, but as Yoko's classmates, the girls had gotten used to being in Yoko's presence so Kiba's was a lot more dazzling for them.

This resulted in Kiba being crowded by girls as soon as he stepped into the room, leaving Yoko utterly ignored. Typically, this would annoy Yoko, but she had bigger concerns right now than her popularity. And as Kiba politely made his way through his admirers, she noticed the shocked expressions as Kiba approached her desk.

"Eh? Does Kiba-kun want to talk to Yoko-san?"

"The Prince and the Flower, interacting?"

"What could he want with her?"

"This is just like one of my fanfics!"

Yoko liked being talked about, but the rumours that this interaction could produce were something she could live without. Kiryuu looked between the two most popular second years, brow raised, as Kiba stopped in front of Yoko's desk.

"Ikawazu-san, how are you today." Kiba asked, with his princely smile and bishie sparkles.

Yoko forced herself to respond in kind. "I am well, thank you, Kiba-san." She fought the urge to flip him off. Not wanting to give Satou-san—who sat behind her—anymore fanfiction ideas, she stood up and waved her arm towards the door. "Shall we be going?" After getting a nod from Kiba, she turned to Kiryuu, "Sorry, Kiryuu-san, we'll have to continue this conversation another time."

Kiryuu gave Yoko a narrowed look, but soon shrugged. "Sure thing, see you tomorrow."

Yoko and Kiba left the classroom, leaving behind the gossiping, speculating students. Once out of anyone's view, Yoko gave Kiba a measured expression; it was one spoon annoyance and two spoons faux-friendliness, "Did you have to approach me in the classroom like that? I think you've given Satou-san inspiration for her next piece of questionable prose."

Kiba looked sort of put off by her tone; probably not shocking when, the last time they spoke, she threatened to attack him with fine china. It probably came across out of character for her, but Yoko was aiming for something. When, after a few seconds passed and it looked like something clicked in his head, Yoko figured she succeeded.

"Ah, my apologies Ikawazu-san. I didn't mean to put you on the spot like that again." He looked a tad sheepish, Yoko thought. "I hope you're feeling better since the other day."

"Ah, yes, much better. I must apologise for my behaviour that day. I was a little…frazzled."

"Oh, of course, I can understand that well." Kiba looked forward, his gaze a little misty with remembrance. "I wasn't exactly calm myself when I realised my new status the first time."

Yoko, despite still stinging from the slight admission of weakness, knew that it had just payed off. That single statement gave Yoko some insight into Gremory's recruitment methods. It seems that, like her, Kiba's reincarnation hadn't been voluntary. Of course, the possibility remained that he was playing her, making her feel like they had something in common, making her easier to win over. Sneaky, if so.

Yoko was doing the same, of course, but she never claimed to not be a hypocrite.

"I was distrustful of Buchou at first, but over time I saw that she truly is a great person."

"I see." She had more to say on that, but kept it to herself. The rest of the walk was made in silence, neither feeling the need to speak further.

* * *

"Ah, here we are," Kiba said, he and Yoko stopping in place before the Occult Research Club's meeting room. Opening the door, he led Yoko inside.

A burst of movement had Yoko looking towards Gremory's desk, just in time to catch the redhead closing a drawer. Gremory let out a small breath as she removed her hands from the desk. She smoothed her expression into a welcoming smile.

"Thank you for bringing her, Yuuto-kun. Ikawazu-san-ah, firstly, may I call you Yoko?"

Yoko fought to keep her face straight. No, not really, is what she wanted to say. Only with more swearing and a middle finger for good measure. She also debated asking if she had a choice, but didn't want to hear a no. A third option came to mind, so she decided to risk being a bit daring.

"Ah, of course, but might I request you keep the san? It's what most of the student body call me anyway."

A good balance between subservient and rebellious. A tricky line to straddle, but one Yoko felt she must attempt if she were to keep her sanity during this whole debacle. Even a little act of rebellion such as not letting Gremory call her without honorifics made her feel a tad better.

"Of course, that's no problem, Yoko-san." Gremory smiled. "Now, today you shall be starting your duties as a Devil."

"My duties…you mean like those Rating Games you mentioned before?"

"No, it will be some time before you will be participating in Rating Games." Gremory pointed towards the table in the middle of the room, where several stacks of paper sat, along with a messenger bag. "You might recognise those leaflets over there."

Looking at them, Yoko found she did. "That's the leaflet that I was given." She held back a frown as she remembered that day, focusing on a particular memory before it turned to her meeting with her ex-subordinates. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen that woman who gave me the leaflet yet."

"That's because she's actually my familiar who turned into a human form to hand out leaflets for me. Normally, we get our familiars to do this task for us, but it's common for new Devils to go out and deliver them personally. One day you'll get a familiar of your own, but for now it's your duty to deliver these leaflets to human with strong greed."

"Familiars huh…"

"We'll get more into them when they become relevant. For now, take those leaflets and the device next to them, and deliver them to humans with strong greed."

As Gremory mentioned it, Yoko noticed the strange device next to the leaflets. Picking it up and turning it on, several flashing dots appeared on the screen. It looked like a radar, and several strong signals were coming from the local area. Fiddling with it, Yoko zoomed out to a map of the school, and she couldn't help but notice two dots near the swim clubs changing room. 'Three guesses who they are.' Yoko thought, dryly. Zooming out even further, a map of Kuoh town was shown, with dots blinking all over.

"So…you expect me to go all over town and hand these leaflets out? That'll take all night." Yoko said, already dreading the task. The feeling reminded her of when she first started doing the chores around the house; that impending dread about a task you knew was going to be tedious, but had to do it anyway. And, speaking of chores, "I'm not sure I can spend that long on it. I have to get home and do the housework, and cook dinner for my father and I."

Gremory smiled, crossing her fingers on her desk. "I see. Well, not to worry, we have a bicycle we can lend you during your work. With your new abilities, you'll find you'll get around much faster than before, and that bike is designed with a Devil's leg strength in mind. And besides, you don't have to get it all done in one night."

Yoko tensed at the mention of the bike. "…Would it not look suspicious if someone zipped around town on a bike at absurd speeds?"

"No need to worry. As a Devil, normal humans won't be able to see you as you work."

Yoko blinked. "How does that work, exactly?"

Gremory waved her hand. "Trust me, you'd need a degree in Advanced Demonic Magic Theory just to grasp the basics. Long story short, it just works."

Well, Yoko allowed, if Devil magic can bring the dead back to life, this much shouldn't surprise her. Even so, such a lackluster explanation didn't please Yoko. She'd just have to read up on the matter when she got the chance.

…Did hell have libraries? If it had advanced theory degrees, she assumed that it did. What would a library in hell even look like?

Yoko shook her head, banishing the thought. "Right, well, there's no need for the bike. I'll just run. It'll be a good chance to see just what my new body is capable of."

Gremory frowned. "Are you sure? It's really no issue for you to use the bike. It's for the sake of my servants, after all. It's what it was made for."

"Yes, I'm sure. I was pretty athletic before I became a Devil, so I'm sure there won't be a problem."

"Well, if you're sure." Gremory conceded, apparently not seeing the need to push it. "But it's there for next time if you find running too exhaustive."

"I'll keep that in mind." Or she would, if she knew how to ride a bike. She was positive that, given a little time, she could figure it out, but she refused to show any kind of weakness in front of these Devils. In all likelihood she would fall flat on her face the instant she tried to move on it. She wouldn't give Gremory the satisfaction of seeing it.

And so, Yoko's first day of Devil work began by being a glorified post officer.

Chapter End

* * *

 **So yeah, shorter than normal. Yoko's been trying to figure out if her dreams mean anything, and her work as a Devil Postie has begun. Let's hope she doesn't go Postal, ay?**

 **Hope the interaction with Kiryuu was good. I found the idea of her being one of the few humans who see through her to be interesting. I also enjoy making Yoko suffer, so that relationship, so to speak, is a fun one to write.**

 **I'm sure the quality of this chapter isn't great, but it's one of those awkward transition chapters that needed to be done, but is a pain to actually write. It needed to be done to get to the stuff I'm actually excited about, so please bear with me.**

 **And now, for the first time in a stupidly long time, it's the review corner!**

Belgianreader- **Yes, Yoko's suffering sure is delicious, isn't it? The idea of Yoko getting** **embarrassed** **over having to do that tickled me something fierce.  
** **Thanks for the review!**

The Azure Reaper- **Hah, I guess she is a little like Yusuke. It's funny, I've recently been watching Yu Yu Hakusho again (for like, the 4th time) with my friend. What a great anime, though the arc we're on now, the three kings, isn't my fave by a long shot.**  
 **Yeah, Yoko's never going to be a fan of Devil society, I think, but hey, I hate this society as well and I'm forced to be a part of it. We all live in a society (shitty meme is shitty)**  
 **Yeah, the power of emotions in this series always confuses me. Then again, it's documented already that the power system of DxD confuses the shit out of me, so that's nothing new.**  
 **I have some plans for Raynare, and they don't involve her being dumb. She had a somewhat decent plan going for her, but her ego was so strong that it tripped her up a lot. Also, was it ever stated that Raynare was from the Great War? After all, Fallen Angels are said to be capable of repopulating the easiest out of the three factions. I kinda always assumed that Raynare was born to some weak Fallen Angels a few centuries ago and just can't climb that ladder.**  
 **I do think that her reasons for what she did were pretty awful though. Sure, she apparently wanted love, but she resorted to real shitty methods of it. Someone who truly wanted love wouldn't treat someone like she did Issei, at least in my opinion. Someone who wants love so cruelly treating someone who might love her? Yeah, her arrogance and probably deep sense of inferiority are what drove her to act like she did, at least that's my take on her. She's too weak/lazy to work hard to** **climb** **the ranks, so she resorts to underhanded methods and shortcuts to get there, desiring to get the attention of Azazel or Shemhazai to do it. In a way, she reminds me of an evil version of early Yukiko from Persona 4. Waiting for some prince charming to notice her and take her away from where she is instead of putting in the effort herself.  
** **Also yes, she'll try to fly. Yoko isn't the kind of person who won'** **t try to master something if she has the ability to do so.  
** **Thanks for the review!**

Raiyoukai- **Sorry if this chapter disappoints you after the last one.** **Thank you again for your kinds words before.**  
 **Yeah, Yoko fainting is a little amusing, I think.**  
 **Man, stuff like thinking about why the school went co-ed is the kind of shit I overthink in stuff like this lol. And yes, Evil Chessmaster Rias is the view she has of her lol. Yoko overthinking stuff is a lot of fun for me, because it gives her a weakness to her intelligence as she overthinks stuff and gets more paranoid.**  
 **I'm so glad you like the fallout of the Raynare incident. The fact that it takes ten volumes to really pop up is silly. Like, suddenly Issei is thinking about her in his internal monologues? That's the issue sometimes with first person. Issei not thinking about Raynare until it becomes story relevant is a bit lacking to me. Of course, he could have had those thoughts between volumes, but I wanted the effects of it to be more instantly apparent.**  
 **Again, I have plans for Raynare. Look forward to that.**  
 **Peace Summit arc is just an approximation for when she'll even begin to start the journey to approaching seeing them in a somewhat less negative light. There will be certain personal revelations for Yoko in that arc that will force her to see everything in her life in a different way, not just the ORC.  
I'm glad you picked up on the ear plugs. I don't want Ddraig talking to Yoko juuust yet, so that was my solution.  
Once again, thank you for the review and I hope you enjoy this story more in the future.  
**

Karibanu- **Sure, Yoko could do that...if her father wasn't already struggling to not only pay for High School, but for the house work Yoko does as well as her allowance, and whatever his ex-wife is getting from him. Changing schools isn't something so easy to do, and she can't really give him a good reason for why to do it.**  
 **As for why Yoko will stick around, Yoko is a very cautious person. She wouldn't want to go into the unknown when she can stick with a more familiar setting even it she hates it. Besides, there will be things tying her down soon enough.  
I can't see Azazel trying to poach Yoko. She's a high class Devil's servant, of a high class devil with ties to a Satan. THE Satan. Even if Sirzechs can't get involved in family matters, the devil council aren't going to take kindly to Azazel sticking his business into a high class devils peerage, their property. Even when the peace treaty gets sorted, I can't see that happening.  
I haven't read the manga, so I haven't seen that, but it's an interesting thought.  
Thanks for the review!**

DschingisKhan- **I'm glad you liked the flashback. Kuramoto is very important to how Yoko turned out as a person, and it felt like a good time to introduce that aspect. Kuramoto does tie into her views on respect, yes, but there's still more to see about this character, and how she's affected Yoko, so I hope you look forward to more.**  
 **I can understand the concerns about continued antagonism. I have them too. But a lot of Yoko's behavior is stemmed from her past experiences, and when things that will happen/reveals about the past change her views on things, I think some of the aggression and antagonism will start to die down. I like your thoughts on Sona, Koneko, and Akeno. I have my plans for how Yoko will interact with Koneko and Akeno, but I hadn't thought much about Sona.**  
 **Eventually, I'm sure Yoko will come to some agreement with Rias. It'll just take a lot of personal growth on Yoko's behalf, as well as some from Rias.**

raw666- **Indeed, that might be correct and it's likely, but remember this is Yoko thinking about it, and this is the crazy conclusion that she's come to. She may or may not be right, but it's the conclusion she came to with the info she has.**

Ranch14- **Peacocks are the key to all of this.**

BattleshipFusou- **The razor will be picked up one day, and probably held to a throat or two.**

XenoLucifer- **My theory on this-and forgive me if I toot my own horn a bit- but Issei was designed to be a likable character. In the notes of the first volume, Ichibumi asks the reader to look at Issei with kind eyes. He wanted Issei to be likable, but the way he's written makes him super unlikable most of the time, so that creates a paradox in the readers mind. Meanwhile, I wrote Yoko with the intention to be unlikable, and I think i succeed in making Yoko unlikable enough that, paired with her actions, her character is consistent enough to be enjoyable, more so than Issei who is meant to be likable but can be anything but a lot of the time.**  
 **I'm glad you don't like how she does her dates. That means I succeeded in giving her unlikable aspects.**  
 **One of my favorite examples of Issei being super unlikable is the Kyoto arc. He tries to peak on the girls, but Rossweisse gets in his way. He then proceeds to attack someone who is a comrade because she stands in the way of his selfish desires. He strips her of her clothes and then pervs on her while she covers her body. He attacked someone and essentially sexually assaulted them, even thought she was his comrade, just because he wouldn't get his way otherwise. That is super unlikable. But he doesn't really get any comeuppance for it, at least from what I remember. It doesn't affect how Rossweisse perceives him, again, as I remember.**  
 **I feel the same about Rias. Ishibumi tries to write and portray her as this super likable and competent main girl, but she ends up coming across as really incompetent and weak.  
**

 **Anyway, that's the main bulk of it, thanks to everyone else who reviewed, even if I don't respond personally, that doesn't mean I don't appreciate every single review.**

 **Please let me know how you feel about shorter chapters. Would you prefer longer waits for longer chapters, or would you prefer shorter ones with hopefully quicker update rates.**

 **Until next time!**

 **P.S., I'm thinking of asking questions of my own at the end of each chapter, since I enjoy reader interaction so much. I'm pretty much stealing this idea from other writers, but it seems like fun.**

 **First question! What Sacred Gear would you like to have from the series? Personally, I wouldn't want anything too attention catching like a Longinus. Maybe something like Mirror Alice. I'm a bit of a wimp, so a more defensive Sacred Gear is right up my alley.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Well, this wasn't out as quick as I'd like, but there we go. At least it's not been another year, huh?**

 **Anyway, not much to say here. I was without internet for about a month and a half, but that's not much of an excuse for this story as it is Golden Spyral, since I have DxD volumes saved on my phone. Only up to volume 9, though. And unfortunately, the site I downloaded them from has been hit by a DMCA. Fortunately, I do have an alternate source, but that shouldn't be an issue for a good long while.**

 **Er, anyway, I don't usually like warnings for chapter content, but if you like cats, one part of this chapter might be a little rough. Sorry about that.**

* * *

As the world sped by, Yoko marvelled. She wasn't even running at full speed and she was bolting down the street like an Olympic sprinter. Her breathing was at the same rate as if she was on a jog, and despite being halfway across Kuoh town from the academy, the burn in her legs had only just started.

Giving her radar a quick check, she saw that she was still far away from her next delivery. Pushing herself harder, she started running at a speed approaching her max. It was like night and day, and despite the wind whipping around her face, her eyes didn't sting a bit. It was, in a word, exhilarating. Since the sun had started to go down, she wasn't feeling the same drain she did in the day, and she got the feeling that she could go even faster in the dark.

Despite her body being capable of handling such speeds, however, it didn't mean she was used to it.

Her foot slammed into a curb, and the world jarred to a halt. Yoko's heart leapt into her throat as she tilted over, the hard, stone pavement fast approaching. Faster yet was her reaction, and she threw her hands out, catching herself on the pavement before rolling forward and bouncing to her feet.

Heart going wild, Yoko looked around, heat flushing up her neck at the embarrassing tumble. A boy her age walked past, not looking up from his phone. The lady across the street sweeping her doorway didn't blink. Flush fading, she bent down and picked up the device she had dropped. "So, it's true…normal people can't even notice me right now." Looking over the device, she saw it had nary a scratch on it, despite landing on the screen. "What's this thing made of?"

The closest blinking dot happened to be right next to her, and she turned to see a middle-class home of moderate size. Her breathing now under control, she posted a leaflet through the door and carried on. "How much distance did I cover in that short time? Ridiculous. And my body barely even feels the strain."

She looked at her palms; fine, despite her harsh landing. Looking down at the pavement as she moved, she boggled at the crack where her hands had slammed into it. Again, "Ridiculous…"

This new body of her was amazing! She hadn't had the chance before to notice how her reincarnation had affected her physically, having been distracted by the sensory changes. But this was unreal. Yoko was far from unfit, but even she shouldn't have been able to do all this. She swallowed as she remembered her confrontation with Murayama. Maybe it was a good thing that Shitori had interrupted them.

Her hands clenched as she recalled why she could do these things.

The feeling of the device digging into her palm brought Yoko out of her introspection. She took a deep breath and reminded herself why she was doing all this. She had to play along until something came to her; something always came to her. She had no plan for the moment except to wait for a plan. The details of said plan were sketchy at best, and non-existent at worst. All she could do for now was go along with everything.

It was like the prep time she spent researching cafes and restaurants for dates. Tedious, mindless stuff, even quite annoying at times, but the payoff was worth it.

…

Was it, though?

Yoko came to a halt as the thought hit her. Was any of it worth it? The research, the dates, the schemes. Did any of it amount to anything at the end? All her pseudo-philandering got her was a spear to the chest, left to bleed out by her final date. Left her wishing for—

Yoko rapped her knuckles on her head, shaking the thoughts away.

What a stupid question. Of course, it was all worth it. She was adored by the student body of Kuoh Academy. Even some of her senpai had fallen prey to her charms. She was known as one of the most athletic, most charming, most attractive members of Kuoh Academy.

And yet…

She wasn't the most charming, athletic, or attractive student in school. There were at least four girls above her in popularity.

So what? It was a work in progress. She was on the way to the top already. By her third year, Gremory, Himejima, Shitori, and Shinra would be gone, and she'd be left as the most popular girl in school.

But was that a real victory? How can she claim to be the best, if the best had left before she could overcome them?

She had to be, though. There's no other option. She'd be the best, or she'd be nothing.

She'd be worthless.

She was beloved by the masses. Girls adored her.

But the boys hated her.

So what? She didn't care about them. She never had.

She used to be popular with everyone in middle school.

Middle school was different. She was still under the delusion that someone could give a shit about her.

Her old gang members cared.

Pfft, those bottom feeders?

They used to be her comrades.

They left her, though.

That was the Fallen's fault.

They were idiots. They couldn't see that she had nothing to do with it.

They were tricked. Just like she was.

Then she was an idiot too, for not seeing it.

It didn't matter, anyway. They were gone.

Just like everyone else in her life.

Just like Rina-chan did.

Her father was still there.

For all the good that does.

He cares, he gives her money.

He can barely stay in the same room as her.

He tries.

Too little, too late.

He kept her.

He was _stuck_ with her.

Because _she_ didn't want her.

 _She_ never wanted her.

" _You worthless litt—"_

Yoko gasped, her chest burning with the desire for air. She bent over, trying to catch her breath. She took a shaky gulp, realising that she'd stopped breathing for a while. She stared down at the device at the floor, having dropped it again at some point. With one last gasp, she picked it up and stood straight.

She took a moment to regather her thoughts. Looking at her surrounding area, she searched for something to distract her. Soon enough, she saw a small café that she'd never noticed before. A rare enough event, and if it were even a week ago, she would have gone in to scope it out.

But right now, the last thing she wanted was to butter up some serving staff and try out their menu. Even thinking about it, her thoughts— _it's not even worth it, why bother, it is worth it, take a girl there, why even bother—_

She shook her head, going so far as to pinch her face with her free hand. Looking to her other, she checked the map on the screen for her next drop off. A good run sounded like just what she needed. And sure enough, the next flashing light was a few blocks down. So, she ran, until the blurring of the world reminded her that she'd be there far too soon if she did.

So, she jogged. Focused on breathing and the motions of her body. A little dash of indignation towards Gremory was thrown in, and soon enough the rantings in her mind were about someone other than herself.

As Yoko jogged down the road, the café door opened. A small bell tinkled over the sounds of a waitress saying farewell, please come again. A young woman stepped out onto the street, taking in the fresh air. Her attire was conspicuous, consisting of a nun's habit. Out of the sleeves were hands clad in black, skin-tight latex; an out of place article in an already strange get-up. From the hood spilled light brown hair, long strands that twisted down to the woman's collarbones. A small, peaceful smile was on the nun's face, and even her eyes looked like a calm, clear sky.

After taking a moment to take in the world around her, the woman started walking in the opposite direction of Yoko. Her gait was slow, relaxed, but she moved with grace. For a while she continued on her way, humming an uplifting tune, one of a pious nature. Just as she was halfway through her rendition of Lord of the Dance, a pained cry came from a nearby alleyway.

With zero hesitation she entered the alley, a frown pulling at her peaceful features. She searched the alleyway, her gaze sharp and her body tense. Moving behind a large bin, her features softened.

"Oh, you poor thing."

Lying twisted on the ground was a cat. One of its legs was at an angle even a cat, in all it's flexibility, should not be capable of. Another had a small arrow through it, likely from a small, handheld crossbow. A pitiful mew came from the wretched creature, one of its eyes closed as it breathed heavily.

Tears gathered in the corner of the woman's eyes. She reached out and, without blinking, tore the latex around her fingers so she could allow her skin to make contact with the animal's head. The cat leaned into the warmth, purring weakly.

"I can only offer you this little comfort, dear one. Life has been cruel to you, has it not? Such suffering, such needless pain." A tear ran down her cheek, but this was at odds with the comforting smile taking over her features. She scratched behind its ear, trailing her fingers down the back of its neck. "I am sure that God will accept you, regardless of your species, for you are his creation, and thus you are loved.

Crack.

The cat's pained breathing stopped. The woman stroked its crooked neck, before removing her hand. Bringing her hands together, she gave a small prayer for the cat, but also for whoever hurt it so much. She prayed that they would find salvation, and that they repented for their sins when their time came.

With a twirl of her robes, she left the alley and continued on down the path. She resumed humming, her smile calm and comforting as when she broke the cat's neck. She began a new song—her favourite hymn—and even began to sing a little under her breath.

"Abide with me, fast falls the eventide,

The darkness deepens Lord, with me abide,

When other helpers fail and comforts flee,

Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me,"

She continued to sing as she walked, her soft tones echoing as the sun finally crawled past the horizon.

* * *

Rias paused in her paperwork as a teleportation circle appeared in the center of the room. She frowned as Akeno appeared, a frown on her Queen's own face. Rias sighed, figuring out the cause.

"You only just left, Akeno. Another client lost I take it?"

"It would seem that Akamoto-san has become quite the spiritual man. Turns out embracing Christianity is all he needed to get over his stress. I'm sure wearing a cross around his neck will make his subordinates incompetence so much more bearable," Akeno's lips curled into a light sneer. "Didn't stop him staring at my breasts, though. Nice to see some things don't change."

"He converted?" Rias was shocked, to say the least. It wasn't often that someone who contracted Devils did a complete 180 like that. Usually it was the other way around. "I think we can write off the nun being a stray, then. I can't see an excommunicated nun being concerned with encouraging piety."

"Could she be an agent of Heaven? Trying to weaken your standing in the city by reducing our contracts, and increasing their foothold with more believers?"

"I don't know." Rias admitted, bringing her thumbnail to her mouth. She didn't bite it, however. Just the thought of her mother finding out she chewed her nails made Rias shudder. "Would they do something so blatant as to mess with the relative of a Satan? The relatives of two Satan's, no less? Especially a relative of Leviathan-sama."

"Especially her little sister," Akeno conceded. "It's no secret that Leviathan-sama is quite protective of our Kaichou. Even the smallest perceived slight against her could result in an attack on Heaven."

"I would think if Heaven were to restart the Great War, they would do it in a less roundabout manner." Rias groaned, rubbing her temples. "If it weren't for the fact that she was a nun, I'd think she was just some random do-gooder, spreading The Word. Not to mention how it's like she targeting our clients specifically."

"Well, we'll just have to beat her at her own game. There's no way she can convert more clients than we can get them. How fortunate that we have someone new who can focus exclusively on getting more clients."

"Yes, Yoko-san. She may have to do quite a few nights of this," Rias said, pulling her hands away from her head and folding them on her desk. "Although, if she keeps refusing to take the bike, it may take longer than I would like."

"How curious that she would refuse it," Akeno said. A mean smile edged through. "Perhaps she isn't able to ride one. It wouldn't reflect well on her perfect image if it were to come to light."

"Even if that's true, don't tease her about it, Akeno," Rias said. "I'm amazed she's been as cooperative as she has so far. The last thing we need is to put her back on the defensive."

"You seem to have relaxed your opinion on her a little, Buchou," Akeno said, smiling behind her hand. "You're quite accommodating of someone you held such a little opinion of just last week."

"Yes, well, regardless of my opinion of her, she is family now. I want to make her as comfortable as possible. And after my screw up when I reincarnated her, I hope to improve her opinion of me."

"My, it's like we've gained a little cousin that nobody quite likes, but try to get on with anyway." Akeno closed her eyes, chuckling into her palm. "Maybe she just needs an Onee-sama to whip her into shape, mould her into a more respectable lady."

Rias raise a skeptical brow. "Yes. Because I'm sure you of all people know how to make someone respectable."

"Ara, that hurts, Buchou."

"…"

"I like i—"

"And that's the end of that conversation." Rias shook her head, but couldn't find her fond, if slightly exasperated, smile. "Either way, the situation remains the same. All we can do is continue our work. I won't let a single nun bring down the next head of the Gremory clan!" She stood up as she made this declaration, her hair fanning out dramatically behind her. "Now, there's another contract for you, Akeno, so how about you drop in on Kamiki-san a little early tonight."

"Ah, she always makes these delicious little tea cakes. They more than make up for listening to her go on about her unfaithful husband."

Rias sighed. "I'm so glad you only share these sorts of thoughts with me. If your clients could hear what you think about them, the nun would be the least of our issues."

"Ufu."

* * *

The front door of the Ikawazu household slammed open. Yoko dragged herself into the living room, collapsing onto the closest chair. She spent a minute catching her breath, wiping sweat from her brow. Her head rolled to look at the half empty bag by her feet, and she resisted the urge to kill herself. With a groan she pulled herself up and made her way to the kitchen. As she opened the freezer to pull out a couple of ready-meals, she took note of the state of her body.

Despite spending a few hours literally running around town, her body wasn't feeling the effects like it once would have. Instead of burning agony in her limbs, it was more that they were slightly heavy. Even her breathing was calming down already. The power of a Devil body, she supposed.

Still, she didn't want to have to keep jogging around town for however long she had to do these deliveries for. Sooner or later, she'd have to learn to ride a bike. If she thought back, she remembered seeing one in the garage, from a time when her father still had the spare time to actually indulge in his cycling hobby.

The idea to ask him to give her some pointers was shot down. Their conversations these days barely went beyond; "What's for dinner? Here's some money" and so on. Their talk earlier in the week was one of the few times they conversed in the last year or so. She hadn't asked him for anything more than an advance on her allowance through the majority of her life, and she didn't feel like starting now.

Her ready-meal finished, she put her father's in and took hers to the kitchen table. Most of the time she couldn't be bothered to make proper food, so they made do with ready-made. Considering she did the washing, the ironing, the cleaning, and the cooking, her father was smart enough to not complain.

He had tried to do these things after the divorce, but not only was he incompetent, he barely had the time. His job as a salaryman took up a lot of time, and the house had been a mess until Yoko sorted it out. The only similarity to those days was the ready-meals they ate three-fifths of the time.

Yoko grimaced at the taste of her meal. She would have much preferred to cook herself, but again, time was limited and she was a stickler for efficient time keeping.

…Now that she thought about it, she was going to have to re-examine her schedule, wasn't she?

Her brow twitching, she shoved some food in her mouth and got to chewing.

The beeping of the microwave nearly made her jump out of her chair. With a huff she got up, shut it up, and sat back down to finish her food. Soon enough, the bland nourishment (if it could count as such) was eaten, and she cleaned up after herself.

With that done, she decided to take a shower after getting a whiff under her clothes. Running around town all day did wonders for sweat production, after all.

* * *

Yoko let out a sigh as the hot water hit her skin. She could already feel the sweat wash away. Running her hands through her hair, she pushed it away from her face, so her shampoo wouldn't get in her eyes when she lathered it.

She paused.

Now, Yoko wasn't the girliest of girls; her dress sense and minimal make-up made that clear. But one thing she did indulge in was her hair. She'd been growing it since the start of middle school, and it was, by far, her favourite feature. She'd even dedicated time slots in her schedule for zealous checks for split ends—she actually had one penned in for after this shower. Only restraint and dedication to strict timekeeping stopped her from doing so daily.

It was safe to say that Yoko was intimately familiar with her hair.

It had never felt this silky before. Even after shampoo and conditioner her hair never felt like this, never mind after running around all evening. She spent a few moments running her fingers through it, baffled. Her fingers ghosted over the back of her neck, and in her state of hyper focus, she noticed something else.

Did the back of her neck always feel so soft?

Gliding her hand down her neck and across her collar bones, she found it wasn't just her neck. Her skin felt softer than it ever had before. Rubbing her arm, she marvelled at the feeling. Sure, she moisturized, but it shouldn't have this much of an effect; it wasn't like she bought expensive brands or anything.

Her self-exploration paused as she considered something. Was this an effect of becoming a Devil, as well? It made sense. So far, every Devil she had met looked stupidly attractive. She didn't like guys at all, but even she could recognise that Kiba was handsome as hell. Literally, apparently.

She crossed her arms to take up a thinking pose, but gasped as her arm brushed against her chest. A surge of heat shot through her at the slight contact. She stared at her breasts, mouth open. At the risk of sounding slightly repetitive; they'd never been that sensitive before. She swallowed and reached up to cup one of her boobs—and gasped again.

Yoko was happy with her breasts. They weren't small by any means, but they also weren't ridiculous shirt stretchers like Gremory's or Himejima's. Not that she didn't appreciate large breasts, of course not, but she'd never want to be saddled with them herself. That aside, from her own exploration of her body in the past she had learned that her breasts weren't all that sensitive. She felt something from them, sure, but nothing compared to what she heard from girls gossiping about their boyfriends giving them a squeeze.

With a hesitant motion, she ran a finger over her nipple. Her knees buckled. She tensed her legs, not liking the idea of slamming face first into her shower wall. Resting against it, she bit her lip as she rubbed her nipple again. She just about held in a whimper, ceasing the motion as she took some breaths.

A curious thought made her freeze. She swallowed, not sure if she wanted to answer the question that just popped into her head. After a few more seconds she reasoned, that, well, she should probably check. You know, just to know for sure. She wanted to know everything that had changed with her body, after all.

So, with a token amount of hesitation, she slid her other hand down her torso, past her stomach, and settled it between her legs.

Her breath didn't so much leave her as it did cease existing.

* * *

An embarrassingly short time later, Yoko was sitting in her desk chair, combing her hair in her dressing gown. Her face was still flushed, and not from the heat of the shower. Her breathing was a bit short, and she tried her best to focus on nothing but the soothing motions of comb gliding through her hair.

Deciding that it wasn't enough, she put down her comb and opened her desk drawer. From it she pulled out an old CD player. It was well looked after, aside from a small dent on top. In an odd juxtaposition from Yoko's usual style, the device was bright pink with a faded and peeling sticker of Sailor Moon slapped haphazardly in the centre. Placing it on the desk, Yoko pressed play.

The upbeat sounds of an old idol song came blaring from the device. Yoko hissed and, in a moment of panic, lowered the volume all the way to nothing. She glanced at the closed door, tense, but relaxed as she realised that her dad wasn't suddenly opening the door to judge her taste in music.

She looked back to the device with a frown. She always made sure that it was on the lowest possible setting that would both allow her to hear it properly, but also to be unhearable from outside her door. It was a practice ingrained in her since childhood—her mother never did appreciate additional reminders of her youngest daughter's existence.

Shaking her head, she raised the volume by one level, and flinched at the sound. It was still way too loud. A dark frown marred her face as she remembered her enhanced senses. Ah. That old chestnut.

She left it as it was. Even though it sounded louder than she'd like, she knew that it would still be inaudible to anyone standing outside.

Grabbing her comb, she went back to work, watching her reflection in her desk's mirror frown. She was getting a bit sick of the constant reminders of how she was now different. It was like puberty all over again, and once had been more than enough for that shit. She really needed to come up with a plan of action, something for her to focus on instead of her own thoughts.

For a while she mindlessly combed her hair, letting the cheerful tones of the idol wash over her. She refused to let her recent thoughts invade her mind during this time. This was her time, a moment of self-indulgence, where she both took care of and admired her hair. Even as she combed it, it would bounce back into its usual messiness, forever untameable. It couldn't be controlled; all she could do was poke it in the direction she wanted. She'd made it work for her, her unruly hair, and she'd gotten many a compliment from girls about it. So many jealous glances. They were her signature, and more than that they were a spit in the face of the hag who used to cut it to her ears.

As she ran the comb passed her ear, she caught sigh of the old scar behind the earlobe. As always, she ignored it, more than used to it by now. It had been accident, even she could admit that, but it didn't stop it hurting at the time. Physically, and emotionally. And even if it was an accident, the lack of care that caused the incident still hit deep.

She winced as the comb was caught in a tangle, yanking her from creeping thoughts of the past. After sorting out that last, stubborn lock of hair, she put the comb down and tuned back into reality. The CD has gone through most of its tracks, more than Yoko usually sat through. Running through her mental schedule, she grimaced as she realised that she was so far off her schedule it was barely worth sticking to anymore.

The thought made her stomach turn, and she clenched her fists, glaring at the wall. Her life was in shambles. She had no plan, and she couldn't even stick to her damn schedule. She was falling apart! Was her constitution so weak that this was all it took to throw her out of whack?

She was sick of it. She was angry. She—

She almost missed her door handle turning.

Heart leaping into her chest, Yoko turned off the CD player, dropped it into the drawer, and closed it as fast as she could without slamming it. She sat back in her chair, regathering herself just in time for her father to enter her room. She stared at him.

He stared back.

He was coming into her room a lot lately, it seemed. At least she wasn't naked this time.

Tamaki cleared his throat, the relief on his face hinting he shared the thought. "Ah, Yoko, er, just came to let you know something. Erm, the Satanakas are going away for the weekend. Leaving Friday evening in fact. So, they asked us to keep an eye on the house; gave us a key, just in case we need to get in for some reason." He pulled the key out of his pocket and walked over to place it on her desk.

Yoko kept her face blank, but inwardly was cheering. Finally, those randy old fucks were leaving! Only temporarily, sure, but she'd be able to sleep without the damn earplugs for a while.

"Since, er, I'm not here as often, I figure you should keep the key on you."

Her mood dimmed a bit, but said nothing. Just another responsibility she had to take on. Eventually, since he didn't seem to be leaving without a response, she said, "Alright. Sure."

Tamaki nodded. Instead of leaving, though, he gave an awkward glance around her room. His eyes dragged over the bare walls, lacking any kind of poster or picture that most teenagers plastered their walls with. It seemed almost wrong, for a teen's room to be so tidy, but he only really had his eldest daughter as reference. Looking back to Yoko, he watched her fidget in place a little. "So, erm, how are things?"

Yoko blinked. He sure was acting odd this week, that's for sure. "Fine," she said, eventually.

"Erm, well, it's just…well you seem a bit off lately, is all."

"Off?"

"Yeah."

Yoko blinked again. She doubted he even knew what to look for to tell something was 'off'. "Well, I'm fine. Nothing's wrong." Maybe there was something off with him, if he was being this attentive all of a sudden.

Tamaki swallowed, and opened his mouth, left it open, and closed it. He seemed to slump a little, then he nodded. "Ok, alright. Well, goodnight." He didn't wait for her to say it back, only turned around and left, closing the door behind him.

Yoko stared at the door. That was…different. Her mouth moved, mouthing 'goodnight' back without any conscious effort on her part.

Shaking her head, she leant back in her chair as she looked at her desk drawer. That had been close. Surely, with her new sense of hearing, she should have heard him approach the door? He almost saw her closing the drawer, and she didn't want to imagine what he'd think she'd be trying to hide from hi—

Her eyes widened. Her thoughts stopped.

Only one thing went through her mind. A memory.

 _"Ah, here we are," Kiba said, he and Yoko stopping in place before the Occult Research Club's meeting room. Opening the door, he led Yoko inside._

 _A burst of movement had Yoko looking towards Gremory's desk, just in time to catch the redhead closing a drawer. Gremory let out a small breath as she removed her hands from the desk._

Yoko had closed her drawer as her dad walked in, trying to hide the fact that she listened to girly pop music from a girly CD player. That would have been embarrassing, no doubt.

So, what did Gremory have to hide?

Surely if it was something she wanted others to see, she wouldn't have hidden it in a drawer. And surely she'd have nothing to hide from her trusted servants, like Kiba, right? Or maybe she did. Maybe whatever Gremory put in that drawer, she didn't want others to see. Even if she didn't mind Kiba seeing it, did that mean she minded Yoko seeing it?

It was flimsy. It was barely anything. It could be called a stretch. Maybe Yoko was reaching for something suspicious, something to further justify her dislike of Gremory. For all Yoko knew, Gremory could have been doodling her crushes surname next to her own, and was embarrassed at being walked in on.

But it was still something. There was something in that drawer, something that could offer Yoko an advantage. Something that, maybe, she could hold over Gremory in the future. Even if it was a schoolgirl's lovesick scribblings, that's still something she can use to get one over on Gremory.

And if it was something more than that, something damming that Rias Gremory absolutely did not want Ikawazu Yoko to see?

Well, wouldn't that be grand?

For the first time in a while a genuine, devious grin pulled at Yoko's lips. A calculating gleam glimmered in her eyes. Her mind was whirring, and this time, it was for something productive. A plan was beginning to form. And Yoko?

Yoko was, for the first time in about a week, starting to feel like her old self.

She had something to hold onto. Something to give her focus. The first step on her path to getting to the bottom of all of this.

Finally, she could stop fucking winging it!

Chapter end.

* * *

 **The gears are turning. Yoko's ready to get back in the swing of things!**

 **Also, I think this chapter has gone towards earning that M rating some more. The scene with the cat was genuinely hard to write; I had to step away from my laptop for bit afterwards.**

 **I've been waiting ages to finally start introducing that character. Can't wait for her to be in the story proper.**

 **Things also got a bit frisky there in the shower. How do you guys think I did with that? I was trying to make it a it sexy, while also not totally tasteless. It's the closest I've ever gotten to writing smexy times, but I guess we'll see where things go in the future.**

 **Little tidbits of Yoko's past leaking through there. Hints of what turned her into what she is now.**

 **Anyway, let's address the reviews! Not as many this time, but last chapter wasn't exactly great or exciting so that's to be expected.**

raw666— **I'm pretty sure angels didn't have the card system until after the peace summit. At least I don't think so. Maybe I'm wrong.**

Raiyoukai— **Yeah not the most exciting chapter, but transitional and necessary. I think I tend to struggle with POV a bit, keeping it focused on one character.  
I'm glad you like the bit with Kiryuu. The idea of Kiryuu being a friend with Yoko is something I do want to work towards. Yoko being Yoko, can't interact with Kiryuu properly at the moment, knowing that Kiryuu knows what she's really like. Yoko's far too paranoid to think that Kiryuu has anything other than ulterior motives. Perhaps a bit of projection, hmm?  
Yoko not knowing how to ride a bike is just another effect of her childhood. Also yeah, expect her to be trying to figure things out by herself.  
Raynare is such a blank slate that we fic writers can do just about whatever we want for her. We can really dig into her motivations, what drives her. The Azure Reaper has given me some great insights into his perception of Raynare, I'd recommend reading his reviews on this fic, if you're interested. In terms of fanfiction, she's great. In the series proper, though, she's a bit of a let-down.  
Hope you liked this chapter better.**

XenoLucifer— **Forbidden Balor View is a nice one, that's for sure. Certainly something that's got a lot of potential for misuse. There was a show that was on when I was a kid, called Bernard's Watch, about this kid who had a watch that could stop time. That show made me super interested in time stopping as a superpower. Yeah, Forbidden Balor View would certainly not be a Sacred Gear I'd complain about having.**

DschingisKhan— **Eh, you're probably right about that. My intention was to show that Yoko was so lost at the time that she was going so far as to research dream meanings to try and get some measure of control on her situation.  
Glad you liked the bit with Kiryuu. I wanted to explore more of Yoko's interactions with someone who isn't totally smitten by her persona. I'm looking forward to when Asia joins the class.  
As for Kiba, well, we'll see. I've got my thoughts on how the other members will react to her in the future, but I will admit to not thinking as much for Kiba. Which is a failure and a shame because I really like Kiba. Need to work on that.  
Yoko's pretty flexible when she needs to be. She was waiting for something for her to jump on, something she can work towards to figure out what is going on. I think she's found that now, and she's ready to start being a proactive protagonist again.**

The Azure Reaper— **Yeah, paranoid Yoko is fun. Glad you enjoy her POV. Sorry it's so short, originally that chapter and this one were going to be one big chapter, but I knew if I tackled it like that then it might never get done, so I decided to do it in two chapters instead.  
A chance to help wrap my head around the BS that's DxD power systems? Even if I don't end up using it, I'd love to hear your thoughts. And that you're planning an Issei replacement story is pretty exciting to me! Love those.  
Hmm, yeah, he really does let Rias get away with a lot. The fact that Azazel let go of the fact that the head Satan's little sister killed a bunch of his subordinates, even if they were fiddling in her territory, is pretty cool of Azazel and only probably happened because Azazel wants peace so badly. You're right, Sirzechs did get way too involved even after Rias lost that Rating Game. Not that I blame him, but he's lucky no one looked into why Issei suddenly appeared and why Sirzechs just had a griffon at the ready for them to fly away on.  
Well, maybe Raynare isn't really lazy, or even weak, but clearly, she wasn't happy with how quickly she was climbing the ranks. I think, if anything, she had the weakness of character that made her want to jump kick her career in one simple plan by getting a Sacred Gear. I think she thinks more of herself than she is, that she's more ready to be higher up on the ladder than she is. So, while maybe not weak or lazy, or maybe even stupid, her arrogance, hunger for power, and desire for love from her superiors, was her downfall in the end.  
You make a great point about how the DxD world works, and how Raynare wants to be loved. Seems like she shares some similarity with our protagonist, ufufu.  
Nah, you didn't offend me at all. These back-and-forths are super interesting, helps me consider things I might not have before. Clearly you see more in Rayanre than I do, and that's great! Hopefully, you'll like what I do with Raynare in this story. My plans for her are pretty set right now, but who knows. Either way, I hope you enjoy them.**

Guest— **Erm, well, I did. Not that I don't appreciate the enthusiasm, but maybe if you want Golden Spyral updates, maybe put them in Golden Spyral reviews? Maybe?**

 **So, with that done, bring on some more! What did you think of Yoko's thoughts this chapter? How about the creepy nun? Did I write Akeno and Rias ok? Does Yoko's sudden source of inspiration seem stupid, or is it ok? Please, let me know!**

 **And for this chapter's question; Which race would you rather be in DxD? Devil? Angel, fallen or otherwise? Yokai? I'd say God, but that's a bit too obvious. Or maybe I just have an ego and that's what I'd chose if it was an option?**  
 **Personally, I think I'd still like to be human, but only if I get a Sacred Gear! Then again, the Hero Faction might go after me.**  
 **Otherwise, well, maybe some form of Yokai. They seem like they know how to have fun. When they're not being picked out for peerages or bizarre rituals by terrorists, that is. (Man, the Hero Faction really are a bag of dicks, huh?)  
Wait, no, dragon. Dragons are cool. But only if I can be humanoid in some way. I like chairs and stuff.**

 **Until next time!**


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